Chapter One: The Alliance

Orochimaru had hit rock bottom.

The Snake Sannin wasn't sure how or why it happened. On paper, he was in a position of power, with the Leaf and Akatsuki on a collision course. Meanwhile, he had Anko and was well on his way to destroying them both. Yes, he'd had to adjust his plans a bit, but that merely proved how valuable acquiring Anko had been.

He looked to where Anko was gazing at him with concern and some satisfaction.

Orochimaru wasn't feeling any satisfaction at all. Iruka always had been a killjoy. In the span of one speech, he'd ruined everything. Every time Orochimaru came up with some cruel game to play, he felt like that pale child sensei raised. It made him feel foolish and miserable.

This was absurd! He was Orochimaru! He did not bow before the arbitrary rules and laws of the Leaf or anyone else! He would become a god and make his own rules! Just like that, Naruto boy wanted to become Hokage! There was that self-aware embarrassment again.

He had to kill that somehow.

That miserable brat Iruka, he'd reframed it all as childish pranks that killed people. And some part of Orochimaru bought into it. Well, he'd show Iruka! He'd burn down that pathetic village and destroy the Will of Fire! Even now events he had set in motion would destroy that wretched ideology! In so doing it would invite a conflict within the Leaf that would see it weakened! And all the while the Akatsuki would be picked off one by one!

He would reign supreme! Right after, he had another drink.

"Orochimaru-sensei," said Anko, "you do know you're wasting your time, right? You might as well-"

"Quiet." snapped Orochimaru, pouring himself more liquor and drinking it.

The door opened, and a redhaired woman rushed in quickly. Or was she a girl? Did it matter, she had a Sound Headband and wore a bandanna, so she was um... what was her name?

"Lord Orochimaru, I've got a report for you." said the woman, offering him a letter.

"Yes, yes, thank you... what is your name?" asked Orochimaru.

The woman looked to Anko, then back to Orochimaru. "Tayuya, Lord Orochimaru. What the fuck is going on here?"

"Right, of course," said Orochimaru, taking another sip. "What is it?"

"I located Hidan and Kakazu and the Akatsuki, Konan," said Tayuya. "So I sent this mud clone over. Sakon is following them now, but they're too powerful for us to fight alone."

Orochimaru nodded and turned in his seat, moving aside his hood. "Very well.

"I want you to make contact with the Leaf Village. Give their bearings to them. They may remove two of the Akatsuki for us."

"Right," said Tayuya, looking at his clothes. "Lord Orochimaru..."

"What?" asked Orochimaru narrowing his eyes.

"Are you alright?" asked Tayuya.

"GET OUT!" roared Orochimaru, before reducing the mud clone to mud.

He looked to the pile of bottles of alcohol. He'd drunk a few. Well, a dozen. Perhaps a hundred or so. The patrons were all cowering, those that hadn't fled. Looking down, Orochimaru realized he'd worn his old Akatsuki robes. Why?

He'd been looking for something dark and covering and picked them out of his pack at random. Why had he taken them? Granted, the red clouds on black background was stylish but... forget it.

Orochimaru went back to drinking.

"Well, I have to admit, this is the last place I expected to see you again, Orochimaru." said a familiar voice.

Orochimaru looked up to see a big man with a mane of spiky white hair. He wore a red vest on a green background and walked forward. "Jiraiya. What? Have you been kicked out of every hot spring in the world? Are you now resorting to drowning yourself in alcohol?"

"I heard a rumor that you were out here, coordinating with your ninja in broad daylight," said Jiraiya, scowling right back. "You look like hell."

"Shut up." snapped Orochimaru.

"Seriously, what the hell happened?" asked Jiraiya. "Last I heard you were playing the part of an unstoppable rebel plotting the downfall of the Leaf. You pitted us against your enemies in the Akatsuki, and now you're here... what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get dead drunk," said Orochimaru flatly.

"You know you're immune to poison, don't you-" began Jiraiya.

"IT'S THE WILL OF FIRE! YOU GET EXTRA CREDIT FOR HARD WORK!" snarled Orochimaru.

Anko sighed. "He's been like this ever since he spoke with Iruka."

"His old student? What did he do?" asked Jiraiya. "Pull out half his soul?"

"As far as I know?" asked Anko, rubbing the back of her head. "Said some mean things."

"And it did this?" asked Jiraiya. "Did Iruka gain some kind of verbal jutsu or something?"

"He works as a schoolteacher," said Anko.

Jiraiya blinked. "Well, then I'm at a loss."

"I think Orochimaru-sensei is having a midlife crisis," said Anko.

"Shut up, you ungrateful wretch!" snarled Orochimaru. "I am Orochimaru, the Unchained! I will rise into the heavens and place my throne above the stars! Just as soon as I've had enough to drink!"

"Anko, right?" asked Jiraiya. "What are you doing here?"

"I've sort of been mind-controlled," said Anko.

"Uh-huh," said Jiraiya. "And de-aged. Is this another new experiment?"

"Not really," said Orochimaru. "I consigned about three hundred convicts to a slow wasting death to get the formula right."

Jiraiya sighed. "Orochimaru, I'm the absolute last person who should be saying this. Pull yourself together. You run the Sound Village and are supposed to be coordinating with the Leaf. Start acting like it."

"Shut up, Jiraiya!" snarled Orochimaru. "You've failed at everything you set your hand to your entire life! The chosen one you were supposed to train died in a ditch, thanks to Danzo! And the other two students took his eyes and now run the Akatsuki! Tsunade rejected your advances because you were a worthless vagabond! One with the charisma of a toad! And the only lesson you took from those is that you ought to hang out with toads more often!

"The only thing you ever accomplished was teaching a Hokage! You remember Minato, don't you? Wasn't he killed about five minutes later! And even that was a failure because you promised you'd step aside and back my claim! But you didn't! You lied, you fucking, miserable liar!

"How's that godson of yours you were supposed to take care of?!"

Jiraiya flinched, and before he could speak, Orochimaru went on. "You know he's hero-worshipping me, don't? Naruto Uzumaki thinks I'm an idol worth aspiring to because at least I have some ambition!

"I didn't take a bunch of kids under my wing, pretend to care about them, then walk out on them in the middle of a warzone!"

"The Leaf needed me-" began Jiraiya.

"Then why didn't you bring the brats with you?!" snapped Orochimaru. "You think sensei would have objected you to bringing the Rinnegan into the village? We'd have a new bloodline of Rinnegan users!

"They'd have become war heroes, and the Nine-tailed Fox would have been easily defeated!

"But, of course, you couldn't take the war orphans you'd become a second father to back to the Leaf!

"Because that would require you to take some responsibility! It's why you're the one true love of every whore in the Land of Fire, but the husband of no one!"

"Nothing you've said is anything I haven't said to myself in the mirror a thousand times, Orochimaru," said Jiraiya. "This is... truly pitiful, you know. Is there a reason he can't do this in the Sound Village."

"I... don't really want him by himself," said Anko.

"Have you considered taking him to a brothel instead?" said Jiraiya. "It might be better for his health."

"They'd just recoil when they saw the real me. Everyone does, even Tsunade..." muttered Orochimaru. "Anko, we are leaving."

"Aren't you going to pay for what you bought?" asked Jiraiya.

"No.," said Orochimaru, surprised he even asked. "I told them to supply me with as much alcohol as I wanted or I'd destroy the village and kill everyone here.

"Maybe you could pay the price.

"After all, Tsunade's cleaned up her act. And your only purpose for existence seems to be paying her gambling debts. That and writing pornography. Maybe you could pay my debts for a change."

"I don't need to take this from-" began Jiraiya.

"How long have you been looking for information on the Akatsuki?" asked Orochimaru flatly.

"...Ever since they reappeared. After Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan died," said Jiraiya. "I wanted to know who the new group was."

"Oh, that's truly impressive," said Orochimaru. "Years of searching brothels and bars, and you couldn't even figure out it was Yahiko running the scene. Do you know what I did to learn information on the Akatsuki?

"I wandered around doing mercenary work. I openly declared that I was looking for information on the Akatsuki in every town. Eventually, Yahiko and Sasori found me. I had a fight with them, fought evenly with Sasori for a bit, and then asked to join. Pain let me join, and I was introduced to the rest of them later.

"I helped them fill out the other members of their organization. I got an idea of their powers and abilities. Then, when I had the information I wanted, I tried to steal Itachi's body, and the rest is history.

"That took me less than a year! I did it on a whim!

"What have you accomplished in that time? Other than helping me keep Tsunade out of debtor's prison? Perhaps fathering any number of bastards. Then again, forget that last part. Your entire existence has been totally impotent. I don't see why your love life should be any different."

Jiraiya opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Before he could come up with any, Orochimaru walked out. He actually did feel a bit better now.

"So um, Orochimaru-sensei," said Anko, "was that um... necessary?"

"Yes," said Orochimaru, "yes, it was. And I actually feel quite splendid. It truly is the little things that can lift one out of despair."

"What was that about backing your claim?" asked Anko.

"Oh, when we were children, I promised I wouldn't get in the way of Jiraiya's infatuation," said Orochimaru. "In return, he agreed to help me become Hokage. Then he trained Minato-"

"And backed him, I remember that," said Anko.

"Yes, well," said Orochimaru, "Minato is now dead, and Jiraiya doesn't have Tsunade. And I have my own village. So I would say the universe has taken my side." He stretched and pulled off the robe. "One or two problems, but it's time to start moving forward again."

Yes, Orochimaru's motivation was a bit childish, but he could always change motives. It was playing the game which entertained him. Not winning it.

Anyway, destroying the Will of Fire was a perfectly adult goal.

Orochimaru wasn't insecure.

Naruto made his way down the street in a good mood.

He'd aced the exams yesterday and eaten out at Ichiraku Ramen to celebrate. He didn't do that as often, now that Iruka-sensei was his dad. So it was an extra special treat.

Now he was on his way to the academy. Dad had left early, as usual. He'd been going all over the place lately, even when he wasn't working. It had started when Anko had given that info...

And then Konohamaru leaped over the fence and took a stance before him. The kid was still wearing his helmet, but he didn't slip and fall on his face like last time.

"Naruto, I challenge you to a duel as your rival," said Konohamaru.

"Huh? Rival?" asked Naruto.

"You've beaten Sasuke, so now you face me! Konohamaru!" said Konohamaru. "The Grandson of the Third Hokage!"

Right, he'd been really working hard lately. "Um, I would, but I've sort of got to attend graduation."

"Huh?" said Konohamaru.

"Yeah, we're getting sorted into teams now," said Naruto. "I've got to be there on time, or I'll look pretty bad."

"Oh, well, good luck," said Konohamaru.

Naruto nodded. "Hey, no problem. I'll help you with the sexy jutsu when I've got sometime later today."

And then four familiar blurs shot past him. "Coming through!"

Naruto turned to see Team Guy, minus Guy-sensei himself, running in full gear. "Hey, Neji, Lee, Tenten, where are you going?"

Tenten turned around. "Sorry, Naruto, we can't talk."

"The Sound Village gave us a lead on the Akatsuki member that attacked you," said Neji, halting a way up. "The Hokage is sending out his ANBU black ops to go after them. We've got to go too.

"Guy-sensei is waiting for us at the gate."

"Right, okay," said Naruto. "Well, I'll be a full ninja when you get back. Believe it."

But they were already rushing off. It must have been pretty important.

"Why do you always say that anyway?" asked Konohamaru.

"Sort of a habit, I guess," said Naruto. "When I feel bad, talking helps me keep going." He hadn't thought about that kind of stuff before he starting studying with shadow clones. And he hadn't said 'Believe it' very much at all lately. "See you."

Author's Note:

Here we have the beginnings of my second version of Akatsuki Rising. I will be reusing some parts of the original version for the first bits since much of it was perfectly serviceable. The next chapter is almost entirely reposted.

The original version set up a number of fundamental flaws that I realized wrecked the whole foundation of the story. With them in place, anything I built on top of it would fall to pieces. So I decided to do a full-on rewrite.

On a separate note, I now have a web novel you can read for free on Wattpad. It's complete and a sequel is in the work.

Just remove the paragraph breaks:

https

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/www

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wattpad.

com

/myworks/205785753-heaven-and-hellfire-01-the-dreaming-goddess