Uncle Snake Is Meant to Be Won Over

Orochimaru took back what he had said. Naruto was not suitable to be his vessel at all. If he could, he truly wanted to cut open the boy's head and see whether it was filled with ramen.

"Oh, oh, Chakra's leaking out!"

"You idiot, didn't you notice you formed the Hand Seals wrong just now?"

Naruto had been training under Orochimaru for several months already, yet he still could not even form the basic Hand Seals properly. Orochimaru had no desire to teach him Forbidden Jutsu at all. Who knew what would happen if someone formed the wrong seals for a Forbidden Jutsu with such tremendous power? He had no wish to die alongside Naruto.

"Is that so? When will I be able to learn Impure World Reincarnation..."

Naruto scratched his head, dispersed his Chakra, and resumed practicing Hand Seals while muttering dejectedly.

"Enough, stop practicing. Impure World Reincarnation isn't complete yet, so there's no use learning it this early. In truth, only a few of the techniques recorded in the Scroll of Seals are actually useful."

Orochimaru scorned Konoha's Scroll of Seals. It did indeed record many powerful ninja techniques, but what was the point if nobody could learn them? Take Flying Thunder God, for instance. Since the Second Hokage developed it, no one besides the Fourth Hokage had ever been able to master it. And the Fourth Hokage had died before he could record his own insights in the Scroll of Seals.

"What do you mean it isn't complete?"

"The summoned ones are puppets. They cannot think for themselves. Although they retain some of their combat habits from when they were alive, the caster still has to give them orders. Doesn't that make it no different from a puppeteer?"

"So even if I met my parents, I still wouldn't be able to talk to them normally..."

"That is why I need to perfect it. I will drag the souls of the dead back from the underworld and achieve true reincarnation."

"You can do that too? That's amazing!"

Without question, Orochimaru had ascended to the throne of the person Naruto admired most. Seeing the stars shining in Naruto's eyes, Orochimaru was quite satisfied.

"Lord Orochimaru, I've brought the specimens."

A man wearing an animal mask suddenly appeared in the room. Other than knowing that his name was Kabuto and that he had white hair, Naruto knew nothing about him.

"Mr. Kabuto, there are snakes!"

Naruto's sharp eyes spotted two snakes slithering along the wall behind Kabuto. He immediately pulled out two cross-shaped shuriken and threw them, accurately striking both snakes in the head.

"You little brat!"

Kabuto was terrified. He had never expected anyone to dare kill snakes in front of Orochimaru. He could practically see Naruto soaking in formaldehyde already.

"These two snakes are edible. Just roast them. Uncle Snake, do you want some?"

Naruto continued courting death, waving the two snake corpses around in front of Orochimaru.

"Hehehe, I'll pass. Kabuto, take him downstairs."

Orochimaru let out an eerie laugh. His complete lack of anger came as a surprise to Kabuto.

"Kabuto, I merely enjoy studying the habits of snakes as creatures. It doesn't mean I've become a snake myself."

"I'm sorry! I was overthinking it, Lord Orochimaru."

Orochimaru's calm words left Kabuto's back drenched in sweat. He truly had always regarded Orochimaru as a snake...

"So this is the Sealing Space..."

Orochimaru looked at the orange-yellow space before him and excitedly licked his lips.

After using drugs to put Naruto to sleep, Orochimaru had spent a long time researching before finally opening a passage into the seal. To be safe, he had also made all sorts of preparations.

"I wondered what it was. Turns out a little snake slipped in."

Before walking far, Orochimaru saw the sealed Nine-Tails Fox. It lay on the ground and looked down on him with contempt dripping from its voice.

"How strange... You're friendlier than I imagined."

Orochimaru spoke oddly. He had already prepared himself for the possibility of the Nine-Tails attacking him in a frenzy. Now that he saw it looking somewhat listless, he instead felt a little foolish.

"Come to think of it, you've been doing strange things to my Jinchuriki lately, haven't you? I'm quite displeased. And now you dare enter my territory yourself. Are you really not afraid of death?"

"From the sound of it, you care quite a bit about that brat?"

"Hmph. I merely find him more agreeable than those hypocritical Jinchuriki."

"I never expected this. The Nine-Tails Fox actually cares so much about a child. But even if I do something to him, what can you, trapped in a seal, possibly do...?"

As he spoke, Orochimaru looked around. Why could he not see the seal? Based on his rough calculations of the Fourth Hokage's Sealing Jutsu, there should have been some sort of cage, shouldn't there? Why had nothing like that appeared in his field of vision?

"Your seal has been undone?"

Orochimaru finally realized something was wrong. The reason he had overlooked something so important was that, deep down, he believed it was impossible for the Nine-Tails to break free of the seal—at least not yet. If it had broken free, it would have meant the Nine-Tails had attacked Konoha a second time.

"Correct."

In an instant, the Nine-Tails appeared before Orochimaru, raised its claw, and slapped him into fragments.

"Tch, a clone?"

"Nine-Tails, what happened?"

Minato, whose five senses had been cut off by the Nine-Tails for a time, was released from its tail and asked in confusion.

"Nothing. I just swatted a little bug."

"What a ticking time bomb."

Orochimaru removed his hand from Naruto's stomach. Even with his temperament, he could only give a bitter smile. He finally understood. The seal on Naruto's stomach was merely a facade to fool others. The Nine-Tails probably did not want anyone to know.

"Uncle Snake, what's wrong? Your face looks so pale."

Naruto gradually woke up. Seeing that Orochimaru's already pale face had turned even whiter, he asked curiously.

"Nothing. You can go home now."

Orochimaru shook his head. Even if Naruto was a ticking time bomb, he would not choose to let go now. To him, the more dangerous something was, the more valuable it became. Even if he were blown to pieces, he would not fear it. That was what made an excellent scientist.

Still, he could only put aside the idea of making Naruto his vessel for now. The Nine-Tails was not easy to provoke. At his current level, there was no way his techniques could extract a Tailed Beast, much less one whose seal had already been undone.

Time flew by, and several more months passed.

"You formed the Hand Seals wrong again!"

Orochimaru's roar rang through the basement. Naruto had finally learned the basic Hand Seals for Impure World Reincarnation, yet he had carelessly made another mistake. Orochimaru truly had suffering he could not voice. Why were there such stupid people in the world? And why had he, of all people, taken one as a disciple? Wait, disciple? Something was off. That had not been his original purpose in keeping Naruto by his side. It had been something even more wicked...

"Huh? But I think they're right."

Naruto's voice interrupted Orochimaru's contemplation of life. The Chakra on Naruto's body neither leaked nor ran wild.

"What nonsense are you talking about? These are... Hm?"

Orochimaru examined Naruto's Chakra, then copied the Hand Seals Naruto had formed. He discovered that the flow of Chakra was not blocked at all. On the contrary, it had become even smoother.

"Brat, how did you do that?"

"???"

"No, never mind. Inspiration is a very important thing."

Seeing Naruto's bewildered expression, Orochimaru gave up on asking further questions. He would just treat it as a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse.

"Uncle Snake, when can I revive my parents?"

"There's still plenty of time. Your Chakra isn't enough to power such a powerful ninja technique. You'll have to wait at least another seven or eight years."

"Eh? That long?"

"The body is where the soul resides. Without a body, you cannot use Impure World Reincarnation. If you want to revive them, do you know where your parents' bodies are?"

"I don't."

"Then train with peace of mind. Things will work out when the time comes. I'll help you think of a way."

Of course Orochimaru knew who Naruto's parents were, and he also knew that reviving Naruto's father was not as simple as he had made it sound. His gaze merely shifted to a Shinigami Mask on the table.

"Thank you, Uncle Snake. Meeting you really was wonderful. See you tomorrow, then."

Naruto flashed his trademark foolish grin again, waved, and left the basement.

"Tomorrow..."

Orochimaru revealed a chilling smile. He did not know why he wanted to help Naruto. Perhaps he saw his own shadow in the boy, or perhaps he had simply grown used to that foolish smile. In the months since meeting Naruto, compared to his previously dull research, his life had gained a little more flavor—though not necessarily a good flavor.

"Lord Orochimaru, this place has been discovered."

Kabuto silently emerged from the shadows and spoke softly.

"Then let's go. It's time to leave Konoha."

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PS: The Orochimaru here was slightly more normal than in the original work, with a little more emotion. Perhaps he had not become quite so deranged while he was still in Konoha. Still, it was strange that someone so deranged ended up being redeemed in the end.