Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, bear with me guys since this is my first crack at writing a fanfiction. To my knowledge, I don't think anyone has tried to do to Naruto what I'm gonna do, so hopefully I'll have a good time trying to finish this story. Without further ado, let's get started.

Broken Tools

Chapter 1: Put the wheels in motion

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!"

With these words being spoken out loud on this ill fated night, this could only spell trouble for Konohagakure (Village hidden in the leaves). A massive plume of smoke began to consume the surrounding area, easily towering over the village itself while giving shinobi and civilian alike within the vicinity a sudden feeling of trepidation.

The size of the cloud of smoke blanketing the area was already a noteworthy subject of concern, however the fact it was within the village without originating from one of the many training grounds designated for shinobi and also emanating a massive, unbridled amount of killing intent served to further enhance the amount of panic that was in the process of brewing.

The figure responsible for ushering in the threat to the village, a man dressed in a hooded cloak to cover his body and hide any distinguishing features on his person, stood calmly at the base of the plume of smoke, seemingly unaffected by the intense malicious energy filling the air around him. Turning his gaze upwards, he patiently waited for the aftereffects of his jutsu to clear out.

A lone sharingan looked into the eyes of the gargantuan beast, the malevolent glee within the dojutsu shining through the singular eye hole found on the perpetrator's orange mask. His plans were finally coming into fruition.

If the tone in the atmosphere weren't so dreadful, he probably would've cracked a wild smile. Not that anyone else would be able to notice, with the mask present and all.

His dojutsu began to spin as he maintained eye contact with two glowing red eyes belonging to the source of the malevolent presence, stating his commands to the being clearly, "Kyuubi, go forth and bring forth the destruction of the hidden leaf!" Nine colossal tails covered in orange fur fanned out , instantly dispersing the remaining smoke in the area.

The following roar that bellowed out caused every living being of every gender and age within Konoha to freeze in their tracks, becoming the catalyst for the chaos that descended upon the leaf village on this night.

The Kyuubi no Yoko (Nine Tailed Demon Fox) then proceeded to carry out the hooded figure's will, swinging it's tails back and forth with no regards for anything caught in the crossfire. No innocents were spared, as houses, shops, and unfortunate souls were slammed into, standing no chance whatsoever against the might of the demon's limbs. The death toll was rapidly climbing for the night, as carcasses of shinobi and civilians, men, women, children, and the elderly were littering the streets and remains of buildings.

At first frozen in fear and disbelief, the shinobi that didn't perish due to the fox's preemptive strike steeled their nerves, realized that their home was under attack, and leapt into action, willing to put their lives on the line in order to save the village. Some shinobi began evacuating the citizens away from the absolute carnage that the Kyuubi was doing an exceptional job in performing, while others began doing all that they could to combat the walking force of destruction, lobbing weapons and their best jutsu at their foe.

Despite their efforts, it was clear that unless some shinobi of a higher caliber stepped in and pulled out all the stops, the possibility of the hidden village becoming nothing more than mass grave site had a high success rate. High grade explosive tags wrapped around the handles of thrown kunai that would put a battalion of shinobi six feet in the dirt were seeming to be minor annoyances to the Kyuubi. Deadly jutsu meant to make a human being experience a date with death bounced off of the Kyuubi's orange pelt, making the shinobi present slowly yet surely start to realize that taking down the menacing monster was just a tad above their pay grade.

On a rooftop twenty meters to left of the monster, a squad of six shinobi prepared a collaboration jutsu in an attempt to actually deal some damage. With chakra gathered and resolves raised, the group finished performing their respective hand seals as their plan commenced. The small band of hopeful shinobi were positioned in a circular formation, with the leading ninja in the front of the formation setting the ambitious attack plan off with the opening jutsu, "Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Style: Earth Wall)!" A sizeable slab of earth rose from the street below, situated directly in front of the group. Though the size of the wall blocked their view of the intended target, the attackers were not concerned about missing due to two main reasons.

One, part of the attack had two shinobi on hand use wind release techniques to aim and direct the projectile in mid air, while simultaneously providing an additional boost in speed as well as enhancing another key component of the attack.

Two, they'd have to be blind and turned around to actually miss something that fucking big. Seriously, if they couldn't hit a fox the size of a mountain from twenty meters away while the Fox was staying within the general vicinity that it was in now, they'd need to reconsider their own careers as shinobi.

Provided they survived, of course.

The shinobi who erected the wall took off at speed, imbuing his right hand full of earth based chakra. With a mighty grunt of effort, he placed a precise uppercut onto the wall, the earth chakra present within his hands preventing him from demolishing his own knuckles while breaking a chunk of the makeshift future projectile off. It ascended into the air on a more vertical climb, enabling the rest of the troop to follow through with their parts in the objective.

Several things happened within the next couple of seconds.

The two shinobi that were up next released their respective jutsu, spewing sizeable fireballs at the suspended slab of rock that super heated the floating projectile.

The final two in the rag tag band of ninja added their two cents into the mix as well, with one letting loose a strong, broad wind release jutsu to cut the slab down into multiple fragments and magnify the fireballs speed and size, while the other took note of the now flying flaming projectile akin to a spread of shotgun pellets that was moving toward the malice incarnate being known as the Kyuubi. Determined to see their plan succeed, he gathered the necessary chakra to his legs and took off after it, leaping across rooftop after rooftop in pursuit of the attack. Noticing that he was rapidly approaching the Kyuubi while it was distracted, he jumped at the attack at an appropriate angle in order to boost the the attempted attack into their specific target area.

Namely, the Kyuubi's eyes. It made sense, as throughout the battle, many noticed that aiming for the beast's body wasn't really doing as much damage as they would like. With this in mind, the group came to a conclusion: why not aim for the eyes?

It was a gamble that they hoped would work.

"Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Style: Great Breakthrough)!" Providing as much chakra as he could for the jutsu, a great surge of wind was released from his body, accelerating the already rapidly travelling impromptu attack even further. His efforts saw success, as right when he shouted the jutsu name, the Kyuubi conveniently turned his head in the falling shinobi's direction, just in time to catch a face full of molten hot earth fragments.

The mighty beast howled in pain as the searing hot projectiles found their way to his eyes and nose, filling the surrounding shinobi with large amounts of hope and renewed morale.

"Yes, finally! Something actually hurt the fucker!"

"Keep at it guys, aim for the face! Its his actual weak point! Show this bastard what happens when you try to destroy our home!"

As battle cries of courage rang out throughout the damaged village, the Kyuubi recovered from the surprise attack and decided to pay the shinobi back for their efforts.

With interest.

With a malicious, hate filled grin creeping onto it's face, the Kyuubi turned it's vision in the direction of the offending party who dared to attack it. Concentrating his killing intent, the Kyuubi did something that no one was prepared for.

It laughed.

It proceeded to laugh uproariously while turning it's whole body in their direction, not once breaking eye contact with the insignificant beings while purposely swinging his tails about to cause further destruction and agony. Continuing its trend of leaving all those present speechless, it then abruptly stopped laughing, yet maintaining the glare...

...Then proceeded to talk to them, instantly shocking all of those that believed it to be nothing more than a mindless animal who is too damn big and incapable of speech.

"That was cute."

Without fanfare, the Kyuubi then proceeded to jump around like a dog playing around with its favorite toy, further spreading his unique brand of chaos in all directions. Many of the surrounding shinobi, including the ones who experienced a small victory in having their plan go through, found themselves killed from the beast's actions, as the tails managed to catch a large number of them off guard due to the Kyuubi's sudden movements. Sometimes the simplest methods worked, and what better way to reduce a village to rubble as a gigantic fox easily larger than the Hokage monument than to just move around haphazardly and act a fool?

It surely was an excellent method, as the results were becoming more and more satisfying.

X.X.X

(Hokage Monument)

Standing on top the monument, a blond haired man surveyed the amount of damage the village was taking. Numerous fires in the village ran rampant, while many buildings no longer stood, decorating the village in various amounts of debris.

He maintained a calm visage despite the beating he was witnessing his home take. He did slip up and show a brief look of surprise when he heard the Kyuubi's deep baritone voice sound out, but returned back to his calm state shortly after. He then watched the Kyuubi change his attack pattern from making large, devastating sweeps with his arms and tails to just acting like an overgrown excited dog, actually doing even more damage than before.

One would assume him to be indifferent to the fact that the Kyuubi is just going to town on Konohagakure due to him standing by, observing. However, behind that calm gaze, was a calculating man determining the best way to combat the Kyuubi. Rushing in haphazardly wouldn't do anything but probably get him killed. Trying to hit that thing with a big jutsu would probably slow it down and catch its attention, but not defeat it. Taijutsu...

... Desperate times call for desperate measures, but that was just a dumbass idea. Good thing nobody will ever know that Minato Namikaze ever had the thought of trying to fight a biju in hand to hand combat. That would just ruin his reputation.

Moving on to less suicidal ideas, the only thing left that the Yondaime Hokage could seriously consider at this point was fuinjutsu. It was becoming glaringly obvious that going toe to toe with a gigantic demon with nigh infinite levels of chakra, no matter how many different types of jutsu or tactics being used, was a rather one sided battle. Trying to kill it wasn't accomplishing anything but providing whoever's in the toe tags and body bags business a large surge in corpses, which could see a potential boon in that side of the village's economy, that is if the village was left standing after tonight. Thus, the only way to beat the creature was to attempt to seal it away. The only problem with that theory at the moment, is that he lacked something to seal a being of that size.

Trying to seal the Kyuubi into a regular sealing scroll is like trying to fit a full grown blue whale into a wallet.

It just wasn't going to happen.

As the Yondaime was absorbed into his inner planning, a new development with the Kyuubi occurred. Putting the oversized puppy routine on pause, the Kyuubi registered two separate entities that required its immediate attention. First was the powerful chakra signature that it recognized from its time within Kushina Uzumaki, it's previous host. The man who was known throughout the world as the fastest shinobi alive, Minato Namikaze was the first signature the creature gave its full attention to. Being the husband of a woman that's from a clan that was known and feared for their proficiency in fuinjutsu, the blonde haired, blue eyed wonder was bound to pick up a neat trick or two when it comes to sealing. That bumped him up on the Kyuubi's "kill on sight with large amounts of overkill" list, as he was probably the only human as of now that posed a major threat to his freedom.

He refused to acknowledge the second presence in that general direction as a threat, as it instantly recognized that sickening aura belonging to the man that placed this hypnotism on it. That puny little shit with the broken pink eye that the humans revered so much wouldn't last ten seconds against the Kyuubi without his precious little dojutsu.

Honestly, it made the Kyuubi sick to think that one little instance of eye contact was all he needed to take control of a biju such as itself. Disgusting really.

As it began to notice that the genjutsu it was under was beginning to lose its hold, the Kyuubi decided to start pulling out all the stops and turned to face the Hokage monument. Gathering chakra around its mouth, the Kyuubi couldn't help but have a little bit of excitement surge through its being. With this attack, it saw absolutely no losses that could come from this, because two things would be a definite after the attack was let loose.

One, the Yondaime and the dojutsu dickhead would get caught in the blast radius, eliminating two thorns in its side.

Two, they would survive the attack by dodging it with their respective abilities, but any other humans in that vicinity would have a very, very high chance of dying due to the blast radius.

Plus their precious monument would be absolutely annihilated, so less morale for the surviving weaklings.

See, complete win win.

Finally gathering all of the chakra necessary to nuke the village into the sweet embrace of not existing, the Kyuubi aimed it's onslaught at the stone kage's heads, and sent it down range. The Inari (Tailed Beast Ball) flew through the sky, grabbing all of the attention in the area due to the ridiculous amounts of chakra and killing intent present within the airborne assault. Having found its target, the biju bomb proceeded to detonate, bringing pure joy to the Kyuubi's little malicious heart.

Well, it would have had that damn Yondaime didn't fuck everything up with those ridiculous seals.

Gritting its teeth, the Kyuubi watched as it's delivered product was teleported away from the village, a sealing array originating from that infernal blond haired bastard's little signature kunai. The detonation happened about a good 3 miles behind the monument, lighting up the sky with the massive explosion that was surely visible from a distance while shaking the earth itself, sending out shockwaves in all directions that shook every human being to the core.

Seeing that he was on the right track with his theory about using fuuinjutsu to partake in battle with the behemoth, Minato prepared to launch one of his signature kunai in the direction of the fox. Before he could make good on his intentions however, he found himself being subjected to what he deduced as an attempt to teleport him away. He quickly disappeared from the scene in a yellow flash, providing evidence that his moniker wasn't just something he convinced people to say because it made him sound cool.

A swirl that seemed to originate from thin air made itself known moments later, revealing the owner of the teleportation jutsu to be none other than the same man who let the Kyuubi run wild in the village. He looked around, before letting out an exasperated sigh, "Wow, he really is that fast. Didn't expect him to be quick enough to escape. Damn shinobi living up to their titles, why can't anything just be easy?"

Cutting his rant short, he casted one more look out over the village, savoring the destruction and lingering on a certain district of the village a little longer than the others, before disappearing from view, going after the Yondaime.

He chose to ignore the several snakes creeping their way throughout the village, for as long as they didn't interfere with his goals, they were nothing he should concern himself with.

X.X.X

(Two hours later, outskirts of Konoha)

This was not going the way Minato intended to. Although he was successful in completely severing the bond between the Kyuubi and the masked man who he came to know as Tobi, successful in preventing another Inari from detonating inside the village, and successful at keeping his newborn Naruto and weakened wife Kushina out of harm's way, shit still went sour.

It was mainly due to the fact that he and his wife were impaled by the Kyuubi's claw in a last second attempt to save Naruto, but also due to the decision he was about to make regarding Naruto himself. Not wanting to ask anyone else to make this sacrifice, he ended up having to make it. He was going to use the Shiki Fujin (Reaper Death Seal) to seal the other half of the Kyuubi within his son. Hoping that this would turn out for the best, the Yondaime finished the hand seals required to complete the ritual and seal the Kyuubi away.

Being the giant fuzzball of anger and hate that everyone knows and loves, the Kyuubi decided to speak his piece before being confined to his prison, "DAMN YOU YONDAIME, DAMN YOU AND YOUR WIFE FOR SEALING ME AWAY YET AGAIN! I HOPE THE SHINIGAMI GOES TO TOWN ON YOUR PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A SOUL! I'LL KILL EVERYTHING YOU HOLD DEAR!" His loveable commentary on his current circumstances were cut short, as the sealing was complete and his body was sucked into the seal present on young Naruto's body.

The barrier erected by Kushina's chakra chains began to dissipate as what little of her life force that remained left this plane of existence. Her and Minato's now lifeless bodies laid beside their child, who began to cry out in discomfort. Young Naruto was not left alone for long, due to the fact that as soon as the barrier completely went down, Hiruzen Sarutobi, known throughout the elemental nations as the Kami no Shinobi (God of Shinobi) and the Sandaime Hokage, arrived on the scene. Picking up the infant and holding him securely, Hiruzen gazed upon the boy's face. Based on how he looked already, the old monkey could tell that his facial structure and eye shape came from his mother. He rocked Naruto back and forth in order to calm him down, making his best efforts to quell the infant's crying spell. Eventually after five minutes, Naruto stopped crying and cracked his eyes open, giving the Sandaime a glimpse at the ocean blue eyes that held that innocence found in all babies.

The two shinobi that accompanied Hiruzen to the area wisely chose to stay back and not interfere with the touching moment. Watching the Sandaime soothe the fussy baby after witnessing all that has happened during the night reminded the two of what the village really fought for. They fought to keep the Will of Fire going, to keep the future generation safe so that they could move forward and achieve the greatness that they are destined for.

"Awwww, how adorable. An old monkey comforting a newborn baby he found while swinging from his trees. This is such a tender moment, I do hope I'm not interrupting. Oh who am I kidding, I am interrupting... I hope you can forgive my rudeness, sensei." A voice that was all too familiar to Hiruzen stopped him dead in his tracks, while prompting the two other shinobi to immediately hop into a defensive formation, shielding Hiruzen and Naruto with their bodies.

Hiruzen turned around to face the source of the voice, immediately assessing the situation and what he could do to prevent this man from harming the baby. Despite his world renowned skill that has accumulated over countless situations, battles, and wars, the Sarutobi knew that this was possibly an even more bleak situation than earlier.

The possibilities of Murphy's law smashed into the Sandaime like a ton of bricks the moment that voice rang out. Numerous things could go wrong, and they probably would.

He could be here to assassinate Hiruzen himself.

He could be here to attack the village.

He could be here to kill Naruto in order to spite Minato, as he held some resentment over Minato becoming Hokage instead of him.

He could be here to take more people for his sick experiments.

Anything could happen, and if Hiruzen knew his student well enough, he knew to stay on his toes and be ready to act at a moment's notice.

Looking the man in the eye, Hiruzen questioned him in a tone that left no room for idle conversation, "Boy, you have a lot of nerve to show your face around here. What is the meaning of this, Orochimaru?" The questioned party simply tilted his head and flashed a dangerous smirk that put all of the Konoha aligned shinobi on edge. "Ah sensei, you were always so quick to the point with me. Why the tense body language? Do these two shinobi that you have with you right now think they could honestly pose as a deterrent to me in case I decide to act? That's foolish thinking. My my, I do hope you're not becoming senile that rapidly climbing age, sensei. It would be a shame to see all of that knowledge that the Kami no Shinobi possesses go to waste..." Orochimaru's amber, serpentine eyes scanned the three in front of him, eyes hovering over the child in Hiruzen's arms, specifically those whisker marks that were prominent on his cheeks.

He then decided to humor his former teacher, and explain why he happened to be present at the moment, "Although I enjoy making people squirm just from being in my presence, I fear that I am not here for unnecessary bloodshed sensei. I have a different goal in mind, one that unfortunately, will probably lead to conflict... unless you'd be willing to hear me out. How about it sensei, until necessary we can skip the hostilities and just talk."

The Sarutobi glared at the pale skinned man, refusing to let his guard down for even a second. One does not tread lightly around a S rank opponent without asking for a death wish. "Enough of your games of verbal run around, out with it now."

"Fine, fine." Orochimaru agreed, placing his hands up in a mock placating manner, "If you must know, a little birdy have me a tip to be in the area. He informed me about a prime opportunity that is too good to pass up. It would be folly of me to not capitalize on such a potential boon for me you see, so I decided to drop in. I was roaming around the village while it was being attacked by the biju, followed it around for a little to occupy the time while waiting for my prize to present itself. Fast forward to the present, take note of where we are and what's specifically here, and I'm sure you can connect the dots, Kami no Shinobi..." His devious smirk gradually changed while he was giving out bits and pieces of information. It went from a smirk to a full blown grin chock full of sinister intent.

The stuff that kid's nightmares are made out of.

Hiruzen immediately arrived at the point that Orochimaru was leading him to, and gasped in shock. He didn't want to destroy Konoha, he didn't come for his head either.

No, he came for something far more important.

As if he was a little psychic python, Orochimaru flicked his tongue about with glee as he spoke out loud what Hiruzen was currently thinking. These words served to instantly raise the tension in the area immediately.

"I want the boy, sensei."

The two shinobi in front of Hiruzen stood no chance against the thousands of snakes that erupted from the ground sending chunks of the ground blasting in all directions with no prior warning, and fell victim to the savage serpentine attack. Fangs dripping with highly potent venom entered the two, puncturing any and all areas that were available.

Hiruzen jumped back and prepared to turn tail and run back to the village, since it was obvious that trying to go head up with a S rank opponent that didn't spend a majority of the night fighting a humongous demon fox while protecting an infant was just a big tall glass of no. If he didn't have Naruto in his hands, he would've stayed and attempted to rectify his mistakes, but that boy's life held more importance than killing his student at the moment. Hiruzen glared at his former student, his killer intent reaching palpable levels in response to two of his comrades dying before him. Growling to further display his anger, he then questioned the murderer in front of him, "What happened to no unnecessary bloodshed, boy? Was that not what you asked for?"

"Simple. They were in the way, so I felt that it was necessary to remove them from the equation."

Damn him and that twisted logic of his.

Orochimaru took note of his sensei's preparation to run, and dashed towards him, covering the distance within seconds. Approaching his prey, he let out a sickening cackle as he taunted the monkey, "Oh sensei, planning to run is a smart move, but pray tell. How will you manage to defend both yourself and the boy?" With disgusting ease, Orochimaru regurgitated his sword of Kusanagi, placed it in his right hand, and attempted to bifurcate Hiruzen while simultaneously sending snakes out of his sleeve in a wide, blanket like spread at his objective. This attack strategy was foolproof, as it forced Hiruzen to either dodge the sword and still get caught in the blanket of snakes, or get clipped by either one, leaving him weakened and therefore making it easier to take Naruto.

What Orochimaru forgot to account for is that Hiruzen didn't grow to be this old in their violent shinobi world without becoming a crafty bastard...

Instead of trying to dodge either attack, Hiruzen actually moved closer to Orochimaru, a dangerous grin not unlike the one found on his student earlier forming. Allowing himself and Naruto to be struck down, an almost manic smile appeared on the battle hardened face of the old monkey as he mouthed the word "boom"...

Then exploded, creating a massive crater in the ground and catching his student dead at the center of it.

A smoking carcass flew from the epicenter of the trap, travelling at speed through the forest and knocking down several of the overgrown trees in its path. After coming to a stop due to a tree being brave enough to stand tall and firm and stop the human projectile in its tracks, the smoking carcass belonging to Orochimaru laid at the base of the tree, seemingly dead.

That is until, two hands came out of the mouth of the corpse, pulling out a brand new, unscathed Orochimaru. Despite being caught at point blank range of an explosion, a smile was still evident on his face as he surveyed the damaged landscape from that last attack.

He instantly pieced together what happened, knowing that Hiruzen used the cover of the snakes attacking his two discount bodyguards to make two exploding shadow clones, then escape the area.

One would assume that he would be slightly disgruntled due to the fact that his prey managed to escape, however it was not the case. Orochimaru knew that taking the boy would not be an easy task since Hiruzen was guarding him, even with Hiruzen being visibly worn down from his previous affairs with fighting the Kyuubi. Then again, nothing worth doing was ever easy, and he set out to continue his pursuit.

It would be a waste of time to come here if he left without his future jinchuuriki host.

Good thing he summoned a large number of snakes of varying sizes in the vicinity to slow Hiruzen down.

X.X.X

(With Hiruzen)

Run. Jump. Flip over. Evade. Dodge.

This was the routine Hiruzen has settled into ever since he slipped away from the clearing they were in. He was lucky that the snake attack provided cover for him to make two sets of clones, the exploding clones that were to buy him some time. And the other clones, which were to grab both Minato's and Kushina's corpses and seal them and take them back to the village.

Escaping into the forests with Naruto was the easy part. Navigating through the area, that's where things got tricky. Orochimaru basically booby trapped the whole forest that Hiruzen was travelling through with various amounts of snakes, and it was becoming more and more difficult to navigate. Had he not been assisting the village in defending against that blasted Kyuubi, he'd be easily breezing through the canopy. But combine the fatigue, his old age reminding him that he wasn't as able bodied, and the infant in his arms, that led to a recipe that wasn't working in Hiruzen's favor.

Hiruzen landed on a branch after he noticed that the guerilla attacks from the snakes were letting up, allowing himself to catch his breath and check on Naruto. He looked down at the baby, gazing into the boy's eyes. Despite the fact that they were navigating through an obstacle course straight out of a snake enthusiast's dream, the little jinchuuriki showed no signs of visible discomfort, which was surprising. He was expecting the boy to be raising Hell with the amount of crying he should have been doing, but instead he was going along for the ride, maybe even enjoying it.

Hiruzen didn't dwell on the lack of crying for long, as his sixth sense that all shinobi have developed came into play and warned him about immediate danger in the area. He should've found it fishy that there seemed to be reprieve after that endless onslaught of snakes.

Determined to avoid dying, the Sarutobi leaped off of the oversized branch, looking back to see a snake the size of a train turn his previous perch into a pile of extra large splinters, sending wood chips flying throughout the air.

Sarutobi landed on the ground, and made a dash past the titanic serpent while it was recovering from its lunge. He made it about ten meters past the previous obstacle before two more mammoth snakes attempted to sandwich him in from the sides, mouths wide open to devour the old monkey. Not one to be taken out by such amateur tactics, Hiruzen simply jumped up into the air, taking care to make sure that Naruto was secure in his arms.

Looking down, he watched his attackers attack each other as a loud meaty smack rang out throughout the forest, tangling themselves up with each other's bodies. As his ascent began to reach his peak while his attention was preoccupied with the snakes down below, he failed to notice the most dangerous snake appear behind him until it was too late.

"Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!"

A multitude of snakes wrapped around Hiruzen, ensnaring his limbs and neck to get him to relinquish his hold on Naruto in mid air. The poor child dropped out of his grip, prompting Hiruzen to yell out in alarm. As much as he tried to fight, he quickly realized that several of the snakes were biting him, pumping his body up full of various toxins. He could only watch as time seemed to slow down as Naruto fell...

... Until yet another snake from a nearby branch coiled up, and lunged through the air and swallowed the infant whole before descending down to the forest floor. Hiruzen's expression reflected nothing but pure horror as he too began his descent. Instead of the toxins killing him, they served to paralyze the Hokage. This became clear as Hiruzen was unable to adjust himself in mid fall, and suffered a rather harsh landing into a branch face first, hitting it with a visible crunch.

Down on the forest floor, Orochimaru approached the snake that swallowed Naruto, giving a satisfied grin while exuding an air of accomplishment. He ordered the snake to travel underground back to his base as quickly as possible, emphasizing the point that the boy was to be kept safe, not devoured. With that business settled, he casted a glance upwards in the direction that Hiruzen was in. He felt that some good old fashioned rubbing salt in the wound was in order, so he leapt up to the branch. Proceeding with caution, he approached the still conscious old man.

"Don't worry sensei, the Yondaime's progeny will be safe with me. I'll take good care of our little jinchuuriki, and help him realize his potential to the fullest extent. I'm afraid our little reunion will have to be cut short, so farewell!" After gloating, he then rolled his sensei over, just to smile maliciously in his bloody, bruised face while waving in an antagonistic manner.

He was a real bastard when he wanted to be.

Business in the area done, Orochimaru vacated the premises. Hiruzen laid there, unable to move or wipe the tears starting to slow freely from his eyes. "Minato, Kushina, I'm sorry that I couldn't keep him safe. I'm so sorry."

Things weren't looking too well for Konoha. Not at all.

X.X.X

(Three Days Later, Hidden base)

Footsteps echoed through the corridor, as the nondescript hooded ninja walked towards his master's quarters. His chest was tight with anxiety, as the news he was tasked with delivering was not good news. Add on to the fact that ever since the arrival of the jinchuuriki, the boss has been extremely ill tempered concerning his forces due to their quote unquote "incompetent natures" in regards to keeping the infant out of harm's way, it was clear that anybody that enjoyed being able to not be devoured by giant snakes tried their hardest in staying away from their leader unless absolutely necessary.

This poor, unfortunate soul got the short stick in life today. Sucks to be him.

Coming to a singular door at the end of the damp, dimly lit hall, he steeled his nerves, took a deep, calming breath, and spoke out, "Orochimaru-sama, I come with news regarding one of your recent experiments. May I come in?" He waited with baited breath for what seemed to be an eternity, before the door opened.

"You may enter, and do be quick with your news. I'm not in a very pleasant mood right now."

Our cannon fodder messenger entered the room quickly, and took note of the contents within. Standing over a bed with a baby laying on it, Orochimaru stood alongside two young boys, each with differing characteristics. The first one, aged around eight, had glasses, grayish hair, and a purple high collared shirt and pants combo. Standing beside the bespectacled young lad, a young boy with white hair and two red dots decorating his forehead no older than three years old gazed upon the person that entered the room. Orochimaru shot a glance across the room to the messenger, eyes reflecting a minute amount of curiosity in what he had to say, "Kabuto-kun, hold your thoughts. Now you, my little messenger. What is the good news you have decided to bring me? I sure do hope that it is something that'll lift my spirits."

The sickening, false happy tone that his voice conveyed absolutely terrified the messenger. It was taking all of his willpower not to just pretend to piss his pants. God, he hoped he survived this.

"Well Orochimaru-sama, as you recall you left several of your medical shinobi in charge of monitoring your test subjects that you injected with the Mokuton kekkei genkai..." He trailed off, trying to keep himself steady.

"Remember what I said before you entered the room, I'd hate for young Naruto-kun here to become fussy due to his room being coated with your insides."

Shit. Resolve just dipped yet strengthened at the same time.

Gulping audibly, he willed himself to continue, "Yes sir. I regret to inform you that all but one of your test subjects died."

Orochimaru simply stood there with a neutral expression in play, which unintentionally served to unsettle the poor boy even further.

"How's the one child who survived?"

...

...

Killing intent started gradually choking those in the room, waking up Naruto and causing him to cry while bringing the messenger to his knees.

There goes his bladder.

"Such power! I think these are my last moments... might as well get it out. I had a good run." The messenger thought to himself, trying his hardest not to pass out on the floor.

"Well, overseers of the experiment reported that he's missing. They have reason to believe that he escaped."

"Oh? Do tell."

"There were several skewered shinobi, bodies riddled with large, sharp splinters of wood. There's also a tree growing out of the west wing of the base, it grew through the roof and that's where they made the conclusion that he escaped."

Damn, the only test subject that survived got to escape. Seems like there were several shinobi under him that needed severe punishments and excruciating training regimes in order to avoid slip ups like this in the future.

Despite the fact that the Mokuton hopeful got away, Orochimaru still found a way to place a calculating smirk on his face. Looking down at Kimimaro, then at Naruto, he then chuckled in a way that informed Kabuto that he had a plan brewing, "Orochimaru-sama, your thoughts?" Kabuto asked the Sannin, knowing that that look held a hidden agenda not yet known to those present.

"It seems that there is something that can be gathered from the unfortunate event of my potential Mokuton warrior. Think about it Kabuto-kun, take note of all the people present in the room... specifically the two youngest. You're a smart boy, I know you can figure out why I am absolutely excited, giddy even." Saying that he was excited was an understatement. The amount of potential he saw in this situation was absolutely ridiculous, even for him.

It's like Kami himself decided to bless him, despite all of the morally deprived, fucked up things he's done in his lifetime.

Kabuto heeded his master's words, and began analyzing the two while keeping the results of the previous experiment in mind. Turning his gaze onto Naruto first, he then began his analysis. Naruto was a jinchuuriki, which were known throughout the elemental nations as the powerhouses of shinobi. They were the people that got sent onto the battlefield to turn the tides of battle due to their high levels of durability, above average chakra capacities, and freakish stamina.

Throw in the additional fact that Naruto was an Uzumaki, a clan known for their naturally high levels of potent chakra and longer life spans than the average shinobi, and you've already got a supposedly exceptional warrior on paper based on these attributes alone.

Moving his gaze onto the second youngest there, Kabuto began to mentally take apart what made the albino youth so special.

Kimimaro came from the Kaguya clan, a savage, battle hungry clan with a penchant for brutal confrontations with just about anyone. His real selling point however, was his kekkei genkai. The Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse) kekkei genkai allowed it's wielder to manipulate their skeleton freely along with other benefits, such as a regenerative healing factor, a high resistance to taijutsu based attacks due to the fact that attacking a person who could utilize their bones to decimate any attacker that foolishly attempts to engage in close quarters combat is a pretty suicidal idea, and having the best offense and defense at once since the owner was literally a walking weapon that could defend easily or attack with no remorse. With these two equally deadly sources of potential in mind, Kabuto then put two and two together, before gazing upon the serpentine Sannin in shock, "Surely you do not mean to-" Orochimaru interrupted Kabuto, at this point smiling and exuding so much twisted optimism, those in the room just came to the realization that there was something worse than the snake's wrath.

His happiness.

"I'm glad we're on the same page now Kabuto-kun, now come. Grab our little Naruto-kun, we have a procedure to revamp and perfect so we don't have that such of a low success rate again." With his piece spoken, an absolutely ecstatic Orochimaru made his way to the doorway. Before exiting the room, he crouched down beside the messenger, who was still visibly shaking from the amount of killing intent that he was blasted with.

He also reeked of urine, not a good look at all right now.

Orochimaru placed a soothing hand on the young lad's back, rubbing it as if he were trying to console the young lad. Moving his hand up to the back of the terrified boy's head, he began to speak in a tone that relieved the boy, giving him hope that he was not going to die today, "At ease my boy. Despite what has happened, the news that you have brought me is quite exciting news, as it has given me inspiration to start a new project, and I have to commend you for that. Bravo!"

Hearing that things actually turned out well, the messenger swelled with relief, and turned his neck to the side to thank the surprisingly merciful Sannin, "T-Thank you, Orochimaru-Sa-" His thanks were cut short as his head was then slammed into the ground repeatedly with no signs of stopping anytime soon. After about three minutes of good old-fashioned forced floor kissing, Orochimaru ceased with his sudden violent display and looked up at the remaining boys, ignoring the blood soaked floor and his bloody hands, "Such a nice kid. Unfortunately for him, his mistake was urinating in my room causing me to lose control of my temper and wake our precious Naruto-kun up. It was the more responsible choice to kill him now, for I can not tolerate the weak shinobi in my ranks that can not stand strong in the face of danger. Nor shinobi that put Naruto-kun at a risk without my permission."

Nobody dared to inform him that the now deceased young man urinated after Orochimaru blasted him with enough killing intent to stop an elephants heart. They were too scared and liked living too much to recklessly endanger themselves.

Rising up off of the floor that was rapidly getting a new paint job, Orochimaru looked over at Kabuto, "Come my boy, it is time to get to work. I smell potential, and I will capitalize on this or die trying."

Kabuto approached the baby, picked him up and followed the sadistic Sannin out of the doorway, actually catching some of his contagious excitement. Kimimaro followed suit, not wanting to be left alone with the faceless corpse.

Knowing where his master's plans were heading, young Kabuto actually cracked a slight smile. It seemed that the tip they received paid off, and they were set to reap the rewards.

It was not everyday when you realize that you can create the perfect jinchuuriki host with the ultimate taijutsu kekkei genkai, after all.

And there goes my first chapter of my first fanfiction. The plans I have for this story sound good on paper, I just hope I can make it sound good to you all.

Read it, gimmie feedback. I need all of the constructive criticism and praise I can get to grow better, help me develop my writing style...

...And also boost my ego to astronomical levels.

Spread it to all your friends, help me get exposure too lol. I'm done, expect another chapter or two soon you guys, I'm out.