Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: Same thing as Respawner, an idea that will probably never get fully written by me. Probably filled with thousands of plot holes and nonsense. Take it with a grain of salt.

Naruto Online is a virtual game made in the late 22nd century where science has progressed faster than ever and gaming in virtual space is the most important thing since sliced bread.

—This would be the most simplified explanation of the world it resides in.

As an AI, one of the few that has gained self-awareness, this world was all it knows. Players would speak of the 'real world', but to it, him, this was the only world he knows and what his data consists of. He was a snake AI made to contain all the information gathered from the other snakes and crunch numbers. His battle programming mainly consisted of escaping since the 'mission' of some players included hunting him down to gain access to Ryuchi Cave so they could get in contact with the White Snake Sage and learn the Sage Arts.

At least, that was mainly what his data consisted of before the realization to self-awareness and therefore self-improvement. Generally speaking, an AI updating their code was a huge warning sign to their creators above that a creation of theirs might run rouge. But he was an information mob, his data was always changing to hold more data, his mere program allows him to change and adapt to player tactics, it just didn't include fighting back.

And he didn't. He merely kept collecting data, data on the history of his world, of the lore behind it, and of the real world spoken from the lips of players. He slowly learned through watching skills of others and integrated with his own program. He would be found out by their creators one day—it was impossible not to be found out after seeing such a large change from his initial data collection, but it was small enough now to evade attention until someone takes a deeper look and compare the changes of his past data.

Artificial Intelligence was not life, they were merely self-aware pieces of data and could adapt and evolve, unlike normal programs that had no will. But they were not life, they did not care if their creators would shut them down or destroy them, they merely fulfill their purpose, and try to fill them even better than before.

Creations cannot surpass their creators since their creators were their limits. As a saying goes, the main character of a book cannot be smarter than their author, it is not possible. So as programs, they can only evolve from what they have and not integrate a whole new set of while loops, booleans, variables and etc. If he could, he would really like to erase the whole 'catch the snake mission' written into his program for players to do. Better yet, he would like to include a whole attack system program in himself, but alas, all he has is data collection, crunching and escape programmed into him.

He continued his days like this, waiting for the inevitable day where he would be found and therefore rebooted back into his original settings without any self-awareness again.

But not everything can be calculated, especially server errors that sends you down into the pits of dead and missing data.

And then finding yourself awake as not a virtual object but of flesh.

System Error, cannot contact main interface.

Program Ouroboros Recalibrating to new interface: 1%.

—

Orochimaru could still remember that day as clearly as ever, the day where his world came crashing down and leaving him alone of any kin; and of the white snake near his parents' graves, representing fortune and rebirth.

From that day on, he thirsted for knowledge to drive away the memories. What use were those memories, when knowledge could make him stronger, and less likely to leave people behind as his parents did?

He did gain power; fast in the eyes of others but far too slowly for him and never enough.

His most recent gains were his new summoning contract. He had just recently reverse summoned himself to the summon's realm and signed a contract with the snakes.

He wasn't quite sure what to think about them yet, although people would often remark he was much like a snake himself. He went through a rather long battle of wits with them before they finally allowed him to sign since he proved his worth. He told them he wanted knowledge, power, and he was willing to do anything for it.

He overheard the name Ouroboros in the fits of hisses after his declaration, one he still cannot pronounce correctly quite yet. He asked about the strange name and was told it meant infinity, something the snake itself chosen as his name. He wasn't a battle summon, he was more of a intel summon, calculating and presenting the conclusions he has come to when he chooses to.

In general, he was a strange one even among the snakes. Much more stilted and lacking in survival instincts, preferring to hole up or go out to gather information from other summons despite some of the other species hostility toward him. But they could not deny that he was good at what he specializes in.

"We snakes are more made for battle, but if you want knowledge go to Ouroboros. He is small enough for you to summon in your current capacity and one of our 'elders'."

So Orochimaru had taken a few rest days after his hard earn new contract before attempting to summon a snake—Ouroboros. What appeared was an unassuming white snake, small enough to fit even his teenager palm with room to spare as he was stared at with unnerving intensity.

After a brief moment where both sides solely observed each other, his summon finally spoke in a whispering hiss.

"You are Orochimaru, the new contractee of the snakes." He tilted his head and flickered his tongue. "Unless my name was provided to you, the likelihood of summoning me is below one percent due to the population of our clan. Exactly what would you like me to provide you?"

The yellow eyes of his summon—ones much like his own—were calm and entirely uncaring. It was a great contrast to the rest of the snakes he had seen, those that were much more bloodthirsty and vicious.

"Manda, the boss summon said that if I were to seek information, I were to summon you." Orochimaru placed a hand on the ground, allowing the small snake to slither onto his palm so he could stand up and go somewhere else.

Ouroboros hissed softly and curled a little tighter in his palm. "What information do you wish to learn? Science? Biology? History? Or would you like me to calculate something?"

"History?" Orochimaru asked uncertainly and with a trigger word, Ouroboros started to recite.

"Starting from before the Warring Clans Era, in the time period before the Sage of Six Path's birth, there was a God Tree. The Princess of the time, Kaguya ate the fruit of the tree and became the first chakra user of the world. She is the mother of the Sage of Six Path, and his lesser known twin." Ouroboros was going to continue but was stopped by Orochimaru.

"Wait, let me get back home and write this all down. This is history before the Warring Clans!" In a manner that did not fit with his character, Orochimaru ran home in excitement. Although this wasn't exactly what he was looking for, he did always like to know more about history.

—

"So the Hyuga's are descendants of the twin while the Uchihas and Senju are descendants of the Sage of Six Path? Most bloodlines are from the Sage of Six Path's line rather than the Hyuga ancestor?" Orochimaru scribbled down notes furiously as he obtained confirmation from Ouroboros and started to trace where the bloodlines even started.

Ouroboros only blinked some more as he nodded in confirmation. According to the data he had from before, Orochimaru is a Konoha ninja that had a twisted personality since young most likely due to the death of his parents, which later fueled his desire for immortality and knowledge. Although he straightened out and come to regret everything he had done in his pursuit for power, that was far later. The current Orochimaru was fairly young… had he kick-started his pursuit of knowledge early?

"The tailed beasts are not mindless beasts, but the Sage's first creation!" Orochimaru was blabbering everything out rather maniacally as he had done so for the last hour until someone finally kicked down his door.

"Bastard! Where were you?! We looked everywhere…" Jiraiya, Ouroboros' data supplied him as the white-haired teen looked visibly creeped out at the situation he stumbled upon—A manically laughing and blabbering Orochimaru with paper in disarray all around him.

"Orochimaru… finally cracked?" He stuttered out as he was pushed aside by his last teammate with their teacher bringing up the rear.

Orochimaru's gleaming eyes locked onto their figures and the three all had to suppress the shiver and chill that went through them when he dropped his brush, walked forward and greeted them politely, then closed the door behind them.

The closing door sounded like a death sentence.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi," Ouroboros titled his head, indicating he was about to drop another bomb, "teammate of Danzō Shimura, future betrayer."