A Mess! I've Become Orochimaru?!

Land of Fire, Konoha

Inside an utterly unremarkable house

A little boy with pale skin, long straight black hair, snake-like pupils, and purple eye shadow stared blankly at himself in the mirror.

After a long while, Orochimaru finally came to his senses. He made a few faces, then stuck out his tongue in his trademark gesture.

The reflection did the same, leaving him no choice but to accept the fact that he'd transmigrated.

But... why Orochimaru? And why did he have to be a child...?

Recalling the events of the original Naruto, Orochimaru couldn't help sighing.

Was Orochimaru awesome? Hell yeah. He had no special bloodline or weird eyes; he survived to the end through sheer, unparalleled skill at playing it safe.

The Third Hokage's Reaper Death Seal couldn't kill him. Uchiha Sasuke couldn't kill him either, and neither could Itachi Uchiha's Sword of Totsuka. Even after dying, he could resurrect himself with a Cursed Seal. By Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, he was getting younger and showing signs of reversing his aging.

But the only problem was... all of Orochimaru's tricks depended on scientific research and human experimentation.

Although he'd been a scientist in his previous life, he'd studied physics. That had nothing to do with biotechnology...

Oh, well... He'd just have to start learning from scratch...

And there was... ninjutsu... bloodlines... Chakra...

This world really was fascinating...

After a long while, Orochimaru let out a breath. Remembering the strange aspects of this world, he couldn't help getting excited.

He loved the feeling of turning the unknown into the known, step by step. That was why he'd chosen to study physics in his previous life.

Nothing excited him more than an unknown world...

"But... this world sure is dangerous..."

Thinking about the world of Naruto gave Orochimaru a headache.

The world of Naruto was always plagued by war. Forget research—even simply surviving was no easy task.

The only good news was that, according to his predecessor's memories, he'd already graduated from the Ninja Academy.

Just like in the original story, he'd been assigned to the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's team. His teammates were Tsunade and Jiraiya.

That was naturally good news for him. After all, who knew how those three had ended up on the same team in the original Naruto?

If he couldn't get access to the Third Hokage's connections, he'd be screwed...

But... did students graduate from the Ninja Academy at six now?

Thinking about his age, Orochimaru couldn't help grumbling.

Six! He was only freaking six!!

In his previous life, he'd barely been old enough to go buy soy sauce. In this world, he was already being sent to the battlefield to kill people!

Sure, things were pretty ridiculous in Naruto's era decades later, but at least they were twelve!

Oh, well~

Orochimaru shook his head. If he couldn't change this world for now, he'd just have to adapt to it.

Then he closed his eyes and began refining Chakra, following the method in his predecessor's memories.

Although this was his first time trying it, refining Chakra was much easier than he'd expected. Before long, he felt a warm current flowing through his meridians before gathering in his lower abdomen.

"Huh? My Chakra reserves have increased?!"

Feeling his Chakra, Orochimaru noticed something that differed from his memories: his reserves were about fifty percent greater than he remembered.

That was far too much to chalk up to a margin of error...

"Is it because I transmigrated?"

Orochimaru murmured to himself. According to the rules of Naruto, Chakra was produced by mixing spiritual energy with the life energy inside one's cells.

Because he'd transmigrated, he'd absorbed young Orochimaru's memories. Had that increased his spiritual energy, which in turn affected his Chakra reserves?

How... interesting!

After experiencing Chakra for the first time, Orochimaru couldn't help getting excited.

Then, following his memories, he began practicing ninjutsu around the house.

Since he came from a civilian background, all he knew were the basic Three Basic Techniques taught at the Ninja Academy.

He didn't know any clan secrets or bloodline ninjutsu...

In the original story, Orochimaru had probably learned most of his snake-based techniques at Ryūchi Cave...

But for someone encountering ninjutsu for the first time, what he knew was more than enough.

Of the Three Basic Techniques, the one he was most interested in was naturally the Transformation Technique.

After all, it was far more outrageous in the original story than the other two. It could change not only your body, but your sex as well.

You could even turn into animals and ninja tools... It was ridiculous!

With that in mind, Orochimaru tried forming Hand Seals and guiding the flow of Chakra inside him.

Then...

"Poof!"

A cloud of smoke appeared, and Orochimaru's appearance changed. The child became a young man wearing a white lab coat.

"This really is... incredible!!"

Orochimaru stared excitedly at his reflection. It was the face he'd had in his previous life.

Then he felt himself all over. His flesh felt real to the touch—it wasn't an illusion.

His body had truly changed...

After that, Orochimaru was like a child who'd found a new toy, transforming himself into all kinds of things.

People, animals, plants, even inanimate objects...

He could transform into anything. It wasn't genjutsu; it genuinely changed the composition of his body.

But it wasn't as amazing as he'd imagined.

Maintaining a transformation consumed Chakra continuously. The closer the transformed shape was to his own, the less Chakra it took.

Transforming into a human of similar size was easiest. Nonliving things were also manageable if they were simple, like a Shuriken, but he couldn't transform into anything too complex.

Besides, whatever he transformed into was only skin-deep. Its material strength couldn't compare to the real thing.

Even so, it was enough to show just how outrageous the Chakra system was...

The Clone Technique and Substitution Technique, by comparison, were rather ordinary. The Clone Technique only created an illusion, like a mass-projected image, not a solid clone like a Shadow Clone.

The Substitution Technique simply left a log behind where you'd been the instant you were attacked, then you ran away...

They were rather plain compared to the Transformation Technique, which could completely change your body.

As he experimented, evening came before he knew it.

"That's enough for today..."

Orochimaru wiped the sweat from his forehead. His face had grown even paler from using up Chakra, but his eyes were more excited than ever.

He wanted to figure out right away how Chakra affected human cells to make all this possible. But even the cleverest cook couldn't make a meal without ingredients, and he didn't have tools like a microscope.

More importantly, he was meeting his instructor tomorrow, so he needed to get some rest.

With that in mind, Orochimaru opened the Fridge and cooked himself a bowl of noodles to fill his stomach.

After eating, he took a quick shower and went to bed.

The Naruto world had a theory of cells. The hospital should have the tools for research, right?

With the Third Hokage's connections, he should be able to get his hands on some, right?

And the related research materials...

Huh? Wait, wasn't there already someone he could get those from?

At that thought, Orochimaru's eyes lit up. He'd almost forgotten that Tsunade was about to become his teammate.

She'd become famous for Medical Ninjutsu in the future. Why go looking elsewhere when he could ask her?

Given the path she'd take, Tsunade couldn't have developed Medical Ninjutsu to that level through talent alone. She must have had access to a wealth of research material.

And judging by the standard of medical care at Konoha Hospital, those materials probably hadn't come from there...

So, they must have come from the Senju Clan?

In that case... he was her teammate. Surely it wouldn't hurt to borrow them, right?

With visions of a bright future filling his mind, Orochimaru drifted off to sleep.

Then, with a sudden feeling of weightlessness, Orochimaru snapped awake.

By the time he came to his senses, he'd arrived in a space filled with gray fog.

A few figures of different heights stood ahead of him. They wore different clothes and even appeared to be of different races.

Judging by their expressions, they were looking at... him? With eager anticipation?

What... was going on?!

(The detail about the Sannin graduating at six is ridiculous, but it comes from the Book of Sho. I didn't make it up.

Let me explain: I think the Naruto world has a dantian, or at least some place where Chakra is stored. You can see it when Naruto releases the Nine-Tails' Chakra during the Chunin Ninja Exams: the Chakra emerges from his lower abdomen and then flows throughout his body.