In a dim room whose location could not be confirmed, a single figure sat in silence, reading a stack of intelligence reports.
He spoke as he read. Then answered himself.
The scene was unsettling.
"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said in surprise, "both of our bases in the Land of Fire have been wiped out by Konoha."
"Mm. That's right," Orochimaru replied casually, using the same body but a completely different tone. "But those were already abandoned facilities. If they're gone, they're gone."
Two voices. One body. Their mannerisms were nothing alike.
"What I find interesting," Orochimaru continued, licking his lips, "is how Konoha managed to locate them."
Those bases were deeply concealed, hidden on unremarkable islands that barely appeared on maps. Without internal leaks, discovery should have been nearly impossible.
"Most likely a defector escaped and reported it," Kabuto said. One base could be coincidence. Two was not.
"Heh… perhaps." Orochimaru chuckled softly, eyes drifting to the latter half of the report, written hastily in dried blood. "It seems my old friend has decided to give me a surprise."
Kabuto glanced at the same section. It detailed a proposal from Danzō Shimura, requesting cooperation to deal with Fujimoto Tōma.
"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto asked, "can Danzō really be trusted?"
"Of course," Orochimaru said with amusement. "The moment Fujimoto Tōma became the leading candidate for Sixth Hokage, Danzō became our most reliable ally."
Kabuto paused, instinctively reaching to adjust glasses that no longer existed.
After Orochimaru's failed body transfer, their souls had never fully separated. The jutsu had worked, technically. They changed bodies. But the souls remained tangled.
A shared existence.
An annoying one.
Orochimaru found soul-related matters particularly troublesome. One wrong touch, and a person could vanish entirely. In the end, he had accepted the arrangement.
"That old man," Orochimaru said coldly, "will never give up on the Hokage's seat. When I ran for it, he stabbed me in the back without hesitation. Pushed me straight into the abyss."
The memory was vivid.
"And now," Orochimaru sneered, "he's trying to recreate the White Fang incident. Except this time, he's helping Tōma instead. Does he really think Tsunade is like the Third? Or that Tōma would choose suicide?"
A low laugh escaped him.
"How foolish."
Kabuto hesitated. "Even so, why approach us now?"
"Because he's out of options," Orochimaru replied. "Tōma's influence is too great. Tsunade supports him openly. Smear tactics don't work anymore."
"To become Hokage," Orochimaru continued, "Danzō has only one path left. Remove Tōma."
Kabuto nodded slowly.
"But Fujimoto Tōma has Flying Thunder God," Orochimaru said, eyes narrowing. "You don't kill someone like that by force. So Danzō needs allies. And among the people he knows… I have the most tricks."
"So… we cooperate?" Kabuto asked.
"Of course," Orochimaru said lightly. "Why wouldn't we? This is the perfect chance to kill that bastard from both sides."
Kabuto frowned. "But you don't actually have a way to deal with Tōma yet, do you?"
Orochimaru snorted. "Of course not."
Kabuto froze.
"Who said cooperation requires a solution?" Orochimaru continued calmly. "Danzō only needs to believe we have one."
"And besides," he added, glancing toward the moonlight, "if we can't deal with him… someone else can."
Kabuto stiffened. "…You mean that organization?"
"Exactly," Orochimaru said with a thin smile. "Just because I left doesn't mean cooperation is impossible."
"They want the tailed beasts," Orochimaru continued. "Which means they cannot avoid the Nine-Tails. And the Nine-Tails carries Tōma's Flying Thunder God mark."
Kabuto's eyes widened.
"If they want Naruto," Orochimaru said softly, "they must face Fujimoto Tōma. Capturing the Nine-Tails means fighting him. Keeping the Nine-Tails means preventing him from teleporting in and stealing it back."
"And Tōma," Orochimaru mused, "isn't someone even they can easily lock down."
A quiet pause followed.
Kabuto nodded slowly. "…I understand."
"What about the Land of Earth?" Kabuto asked next.
"I agreed to cooperate," Orochimaru replied lazily, "not to move immediately. Things there are already prepared. It would be a shame to waste them."
He paused, then chuckled.
"If only we'd had another year. Or if Kimimaro were still alive," Orochimaru sighed. "We might've killed that old man Ōnoki. Without him, Iwagakure would've lost its spine."
A pity.
Orochimaru leaned back, strangely thoughtful.
He found himself hoping Tōma would survive Akatsuki.
If Fujimoto Tōma, with no bloodline, could walk that far… would it prove Orochimaru wrong?
No, he decided. His pursuit of immortality and ultimate ninjutsu was not wrong.
But if Tōma could reach the end through sheer mastery and survival…
Then perhaps bloodlines were not the only answer.
"As long as I live long enough," Orochimaru whispered, "I can reach anything he reaches."
Kabuto broke the silence. "How should we reply to Danzō?"
"I'll handle it," Orochimaru said, smiling faintly as he reached for fresh paper. "Since we're cooperating, we might as well negotiate properly."
And irritate him a little.
Far away, in Konoha's Root headquarters, Danzō stared at the reply in his hands.
His face darkened.
Veins bulged.
After reading the letter in full, he slammed it to the ground.
"Orochimaru… how dare you!"
The demands were outrageous. Shameless extortion.
After a long silence, Danzō picked the letter back up.
If he became Hokage, these conditions wouldn't matter.
And once Fujimoto Tōma was dead… why honor any agreement?
He crushed the paper into dust.
"This is your fault, Fujimoto Tōma," Danzō snarled. "You blocked my path. You stole what should've been mine."
"So you must die."
Unaware of the schemes tightening around him, Fujimoto Tōma remained submerged in the natural energy lake beneath the ruins.
The mineral vein feeding it had shrunk to less than half its original size.
Soon, it wouldn't be depleted.
It would be drained dry.
Tōma had guarded against Danzō before, but since the incident involving Tsunade, Danzō had gone quiet.
No moves. No disturbances.
And without cause, Tōma couldn't act openly. Anything else would only harm his future standing in Konoha.
Even if he knew, he probably wouldn't care.
Because in this world, strength was the final authority.
One thing, however, intrigued him.
A deviation from history.
Konoha Year 65.
Iwagakure was attacked by Orochimaru.
And the losses were catastrophic.