Okay this is a bit of a longer chapter I won't be uploading tomorrow and maybe not Sunday. Also let me say this now Orochimaru is an obsessive person who likes to keep what's his, his so if you don't like that than I'm sorry and hope you might still be able to enjoy it. Also thanks for all the support it's really nice to see and makes me happy :)
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3 years ago, Konoha
A young child no more than 3 years old with pale skin and snake-like pupils stood to the side of a man who was sitting at a wooden desk dissecting a white snake. The man's hair was brown, his eyes hidden by goggles. In his right hand was a scalpel, and in his left, tweezers.
"Father, why do you like snakes so much?" the child asked, his voice carrying a hint of coldness.
The man, not looking away from his work, simply responded, "Because they're beautiful, my son, don't you think?" he said simply, his voice also carrying a hint of coldness.
"No, Father, I don't; snakes are ugly and slimy." The child said it in disgust, but even then his face showed no hint of it.
"Hehe" The man chuckled dryly.
"You don't get it, my child; when snakes shed their weak skin they've held on for so long, they start anew, and with that new start comes power, a power that transcends human limitation, and that to me is the pinnacle of beauty. It's that beauty that I crave, that I want all for myself." The man said, his voice carrying a hint of something that the young boy couldn't discern.
After a few moments of contemplation, the boy gave up trying to understand.
"I—I don't get it, Father." The boy said helplessly,
The man, seeing his son's helplessness, gave a small smile.
"Trust me, son, you will one day; you'll see that beauty, a beauty so amazing you'll crave to have it all to yourself. But my child, let me offer a word of advice: when you see that beauty, go after it; don't let anyone take it from you. No matter what, keep it all for yourself because you'll be the only one who can appreciate that beauty in its entirety."
The man said a maniacal smile slowly grew on his face. His eyes held something the boy both feared and was drawn to; it was the gaze of obsession a man took on when he finally found something he would make his and burn the world to keep solely his own.
'Will I ever find that beauty for myself?' The boy couldn't help but ask himself
—
3 years later, the day of the Spar (from chapter one)
Orochimaru stood, sweat dripping down his face; he was tired from fighting that energetic monkey Jiraiya. Ever since he was a child, he was seen as a genius, especially when it came to ninjutsu.
His chakra capacity matched his genius, being one of the largest pools for a civilian child of his age, only slightly behind Jiraiya. However, the one thing that couldn't match his genius was his body. It was only slightly better than his peers and inferior to Jiraiya, who was like a super monkey on steroids.
'Tsk, the limitations of the human body.' Orochimaru sneered internally, though he didn't really mind too much. His dream was to master every jutsu out there. His lack of physical genius just made the journey a little harder.
"Tsunade Senju vs. Hiruko." Orochimaru heard the voice of his teacher say. Looking over, he saw the figure of a white-haired boy and a blond girl with a high ponytail walk onto the stage.
'What's he doing?' Orochimaru thought seeing Hiruko completely relaxed as if it was a waste of his time to even entertain this battle.
But it was this relaxiness that Orochimaru did not understand—why one of the lowest-ranked students was so confident in taking out the top-ranked student when it comes to sparring. Especially when that top student beat his ass mere weeks ago.
'Is he an idiot? This is such a waste of time.' Orochimaru thought as both formed the seal of confrontation. If not for the possible data he could have on Tsunade from this fight, he would have never paid attention to what he saw as such a one-sided fight.
'She's angry.' Orochimaru thought to himself it was obvious Tsunade was blinded by anger. 'At least this will be useful for my data if I ever fight her.' Orochimaru thought, mentally cataloging that Tsunade was easy to anger, possibly giving him a leg up in a fight.
But soon Orochimaru's earlier thought was proven wrong. Hiruko, the kid who he thought would once again be beaten to a pulp, dodged Tsunade's fist, and he did it again and again.
'This shouldn't be possible; he couldn't even touch a hair on her head a few weeks ago.' Orochimaru thought, confused, one shouldn't be able to change this much in mere weeks.
But soon Orochimaru was surprised again as Hiruko reached out his hand using some strange power to incapacitate her before walking over and saying something to her with a smirk.
'What did he just do?' Orochimaru pondered; unbeknownst to him, his tongue licked his lips. Like a predator seeing prey
Soon Orochimaru watched as their teacher walked onto the platform and put a hand on Hiruko, who then walked off the stage and walked to a secluded corner of the area.
After Hiruko's display everyone was looking at the fallen princess of the Senju, but for some reason Orochimaru felt his eyes drawn to Hiruko. Inexplicably, as if he were watching a transformation, one where he had a front-row seat, a new Hiruko, one who shed his previous weakness and became something more.
Unbeknownst to Orochimaru, one word slipped out of his mouth as he began to recall his father's words years ago.
"Beautiful, utterly beautiful," Orochimaru said, his mouth slightly curling up, and his eyes held something unknown but could only be described as madness.
'Is this the feeling you meant, Father? I want him. I want him to be mine and only mine, and I won't let him be anyone else's.' Orochimaru internally said crazily.
—
Later that night, location unknown
The boy Orochimar was sitting on a rock surrounded by a forest; trees filled his sight everywhere. His mind, however, was somewhere else; it was on a certain white-haired boy.
'Ever since this morning I can't stop thinking about him,' Orochimaru said, slightly crestfallen, the complete opposite of his earlier psychotic self. He was now calmer, a little colder; this was his normal self, but in the back of his mind the little voice telling him to make Hiruko his was still there.
"Hiruko, from what I know, he's an orphan like me, but that's the extent of my knowledge." Orochimaru said he was at a loss as to what to do, and the book in his hand named 'How to Make Things Yours' wasn't helping whatsoever.
Orochimaru, still pondering what to do, saw a tiny spider out of the corner of his eye. The spider was all white with purple dots on it in a circle.
At this Orochimaru noticeably perked up. 'Ah yes, Number 375. In order to make something truly yours, you need to give it something that carries your intent.' Orochimaru said, picking up the spider and running back to his house to get a jar.
After returning home and taking nearly 30 minutes to find the 'perfect jar,' Orochimaru placed the spider on a table and lay on his bed, his eyes looking up to the roof.
'Okay, I'll give my gift to Hiruko tomorrow.' Orochimaru said, full of determination, before closing his eyes.
…
Not even 5 seconds later, Orochimaru shot up. 'A name? I didn't give it a name.' Orochimaru said, rushing over to the table and picking up the jar.
'Hmm, it's a girl.' Orochimaru said even now he could tell the difference between females and males of most species. "Well, I've been told I look reminiscent of a snake, and Hiruko, the most eye-catching thing about him, is..." Orochimaru thought.
'Well, if I had to say, it's probably his white hair, so Hakuja it is, which means white snake.' Orochimaru finally said simply after some deliberation before once again lying down.
—
"Okay, time to find Hiruko and give him Hakuja." Orochimaru said after waking up as usual at 9:00. Leaving his house, he began to roam the village looking for Hiruko.
Soon Orochimaru spotted him walking toward the Akimichi clan barbeque restaurant, but soon he stopped for a moment.
'What are they doing with him, especially her?' Orochimaru thought about seeing Hiruko with several people. Notably Tsunade, who was just beaten by Hiruko yesterday.
'I'll just watch for now.' Orochimaru said after a few moments he needed to get to the bottom of this.
—
A couple hours later
Orochimaru had been following Hiruko for a couple hours now. First, he followed the family to the barbeque restaurant, spending a lot of his weekly stipend from the village he got after his parents died to rent a room right next to Hiruko and his group.
It was there he learned three very important things: one was that Hiruko was taken in by Tsunade's family, and the second and third were that he likes sweets and hates spicy food, which he deemed extremely important.
Currently, however, he was watching something kind of annoying right now: his Hiruko was hugging some man that was in the group with Hiruko.
Of course Orochimaru knew that this was probably someone now related to Hiruko in some way due to the adoption, and this man was at least a decade older than Hiruko, but he still didn't like it.
'Get away from him.' Orochimaru sneered internally, but he soon calmed down, his calmness coming back as they both let go of each other and sat up, leaving in a certain direction.
Orochimaru continued to follow them later, learning Hiruko had an interest in swordsmanship, which he again noted internally.
—
Later at the Senju estate
Orochimaru had now been following Hiruko for half of the day and was currently hiding behind a tree watching the group of five.
But soon was confused as everyone but Hiruko and a red-haired woman went in. This confusion became even bigger as the woman told him to come out.
He considered running away but thought it futile and came out of his hiding spot.
"Orochimaru?" Hiruko posed. Orochimaru didn't know why, but when Hiruko said his name, he tensed; some unknown emotion filled his heart.
Guilt? No, he never felt bad for his actions; he would do it again if need be. No, this was something he hadn't felt even when he was caught by that woman; he felt fear—what would Hiruko think of him?
"What are you doing here, child?" the woman asked calmly.
Orochimaru, scared to look Hiruko in his eyes, kept his head low and hidden behind his hair as he spoke in a quite hoarse voice, "I—I, um, came to give Hiruko something."
'What's wrong with me? Why am I acting like one of those annoying children from the academy when they get caught doing something wrong?' Orochimaru thought internally as he heard the woman speak again.
"And what might that be, child?" the woman asked.
Orochimaru, still not himself, held out his hands, and in them was Hakuja, whom he had been holding all day.
Meekly, Orochimaru said, "Um, this is a spider I found in a forest, and it reminded me of Hiruko's hair, so I thought I'd give it to him."
Seeing the child's obvious anxiety, the woman lightly jabbed the confused Hiruko.
"Well, boy, he's giving you a gift. What do you say?"
It took everything in him to stay calm. "Don't hit him. Orochimaru thought internally.
Hiruko, on the other hand, being knocked out of his stupor, turned and looked at the woman before finally speaking.
"Oh yeah, um, thank you, Orochimaru." Hiruko said, walking towards Orochimaru and lightly accepting the jar from him.
'Good, I finally gave it to him.' Orochimaru said he was happy seeing Hiruko liking the spider to him; his mission was accomplished. Dropping a pre-written note, Orochimaru used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear.