Orochimaru had appealed to his own cruel nature, his pride in his skills, and his curiosity.
However, Kabuto had realized that everyone he'd ever met who was above the level of chunin was bat-crazy in one manner or another.
Maito Gai went on about the "power of youth" or some such drivel. Kakashi Hatake was a pervert and slacker. Kurenai Yuhi was an expert in psychology but had been known to indulge in drinking bouts that had to have damaged her liver considerably.
If Orochimaru had just been a driven power-seeker and vengeance oriented sort, it would have been better. He might never have gotten involved with that particular jutsu.
That "Rule 63 Jutsu" was a failure. It had been promising but any attempt to shift it to a more desirable result ended up with it failing.
Unfortunately, every time Orochimaru reached a dead-end in whatever plan or plot or research he was performing - he ended up coming back to experiment with that jutsu.
"Eureka!" said Orochimaru in his lab.
"What is it?" asked Kabuto, managing to sound put-upon and exasperated in that simple question.
"A term used in ancient times to indicate a breakthrough or potentially useful result," said Orochimaru.
"Ooookay," said Kabuto. "What exactly did you do this time?"
"That jutsu you consider so useless, can now do this," said Orochimaru, handing over a clipboard and preparing to have his genius recognized by a doubter.
"Subject 327, Kin Tsuchi," noted Kabuto . "Minor talent with genjutsu, slightly above average accuracy with senbon. Fairly average kunoichi. I would have recommended disposing of her in some suitably useful but painful manner."
Kin's ears went flat back against her skull as she considered letting Kabuto know that she could hear them.
"Yes, agreed," said Orochimaru. "Really, a useless waste of flesh."
Kin's ears were already flat, now her tail drooped.
"Oh, you modified That Jutsu," noted Kabuto, looking from the clipboard to the naked kunoichi in the gel-filled tube and back. "Interesting. Are you going to breed her?"
Kin twitched.
"Doubtful, there are far more talented ones to experiment with in that regard," said Orochimaru. "Behold though, the beginning of a new era! I can alter children to this new 'catgirl' model and have a set of warriors with the ferocity and cunning of cats with an attention span of a human!"
"Just as long as it isn't the other way around," noted Kabuto. "If your warriors had an attention span of a housecat, you'd never manage much of anything with them."
"Well, we'll see I suppose," said Orochimaru thoughtfully. "I'll have to thoroughly test this model though. See what I need to tweak in the next batch."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was amused.
There went Naruto Uzumaki, former prankster and current dead last of his class at the Academy. Naruto hadn't been pranking much of anyone of late, mainly because the majority of people who might have shunned or hated him had an entirely different target for their enmity.
There were enough people affected by Orochimaru's jutsu, especially since the mass version which had been left on a booby-trapped scroll a few years back, that practically everyone in the village knew someone who had been affected.
The result was that Naruto might not particularly be loved, in that there were still a number of people who confused the container with the contained, but the Kyubi was something of the past. Orochimaru was a continuing concern.
Naruto himself had been hit with the jutsu at one point, and had screamed and fainted. Yet it had obviously been a misfire as the boy was still a boy. That part wasn't public knowledge though. At least not yet.
There was a shopkeeper in pursuit of Naruto. Looked like Miraku the clothier?
Then there were a bunch of girls from the Uchiha survivors. Whatever had caused them to become so upset?
"Cat?" asked the Hokage.
An ANBU dropped down. "Hokage-sama?"
"What's going on?" asked the Hokage, inclining his head towards the now-distant procession.
"Mikoto Uchiha, functional head of the surviving Uchiha clan..." Cat's voice trailed off briefly. "Well. Apparently she has a crush on Uzumaki and confessed it recently."
"To Naruto?" asked the Hokage, raising an eyebrow at that. Mikoto was biologically nine wasn't she? So why...
"No, to her sons... daughters. You'll notice Itachi and Satsuki in the pack behind young Uzumaki."
The Hokage was silent for a few minutes. "I don't get it."
"The two have enough trouble with the idea that both of them are now older than their mother," said Cat. "The idea of her expressing some interest in Uzumaki has left them wanting to impress upon him that taking advantage of that interest would be unwise."
"He's eleven," pointed out the Hokage.
"I believe that they and most of the clan consider this to a preventative measure," said Cat.
"Ah," said the Hokage, nodding. "That makes a bit more sense."
Mikoto Uchiha, age nine, charged around the corner and began pursuit of the mob.
"Hmmm?" asked the Hokage.
"From what I understand, she is less than pleased with their conclusion and their actions and wishes to reprimand her two sons... I mean daughters." Cat shrugged.
The Hokage watched the group via the location of the dust cloud in the distance now. "I seem to remember that the Hokage must try not to meddle in clan business. Just make sure someone is available to rescue Naruto in the event that such should be necessary."
"Of course, sir," said Cat, vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
"If only I could get Jiraiya or Tsunade back, hand off the damn hat to them," mused the Hokage aloud. "I should be sitting along the banks of the river, my old fishing pole in my hand, and not having to deal with this."
Nobody answered, even though there were three ANBU concealed nearby.
"Ah well," said the Hokage. "Hmmm. Jackal? Arrange for young Naruto to learn the Shadow Clone technique."
This was shocking enough that one of the ANBU lost concealment. "But that's..."
"I think his chakra reserves will handle it, and he needs something to help him survive until graduation," mused the Hokage aloud.
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(Posted Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:44)
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