It was a night like any other with a crescent moon shining in the sky above. Most of the animals were already sleeping so most of the sounds came from either the wind hitting the tree branches. You sat on one of the trees completely motionless with one of your knees raised in front of you and one of your wrists resting on it as you relaxed your hand while still holding onto your kunai blade.

You were waiting for the moment one of your targets would make a sound as they moved along the forest. The 9 man squad was down to its last three members, all panicking as they still didn't know who was picking off their teammates. They probably would never had known you were there and you'd most likely have been done by now, but you couldn't help having tossed your first victim's head back to his squad with an explosion tag stuck to it.

Simply the shock of seeing their companion dead led to three of them being caught in the blast and injured another two. They were easy to hunt down and were no fun at all.

Your 6th victim was a bit harder as she used a Substitution Jutsu to avoid your first attack and ambushed you from above... or so she thought. A Jutsu that simple was easy to counter especially since she was attacking from above and couldn't change her path.

You let her drop further down as you prepared your Jutsu, the less time she had to react the better. As soon as she was close enough you moved your hands over each other to make the appropriate signs for your technique and then turned to the shinobi as she was right above you.

(Multiple Striking Shadow Snakes!) The Justu's name rang in your head as a hoard of black snake flew out from the overlong sleeve of your black and green kimono. The swarm of snakes overwhelmed the female shinobi and slammed her back into a tree. As your conjured serpents faded away the woman fell to the ground dead and covered in snake bites.

You remained expressionless as you gave one last look to the corpse and then looked down at your hand to the headband one of your snakes had taken from her. If a single jutsu was enough to deal with shinobi of this level then maybe you could take advantage and... "Experiment" with the remaining targets.

As you sat perched in the tree branch hidden by the shadows of the leaves above you, a feint cracking sound came from a few meters to the left of where you were sitting. The corner of your eyes shined (E/c) in the shadows that hid you as your eyes slowly opened to look in the direction of the sound and then with a single effortless motion threw your kunai.

Your gaze watched the blade fly and almost instantly heard a man scream in pain as he tumbled off his feet and crashed from a small height with his comrades following to aid him. (Predictable) You thought, leaning back relaxed on the tree trunk behind you and comfortably formed the hand signs for your next Jutsu as you continued to watch where the voices where coming from.

In a puff of black smoke 3 clones stood in front of you. They were perfect solid clones identical to you except for a feint red glow in their (E/c) eyes. You stood up to take command of your creations and faced towards the targets voices. You raised your arm up next to your head, dropping your overlong sleeve to your elbow revealing your hand covered with a black fingerless glove then barely moved your hand forward to signal your clones to move out.

When you confirmed each of your clones went in the direction you wanted them to you, you followed the path the kunai had flown just a moment ago until you arrived at a flowing river surrounded by stones. You crouched at the ledge of a small cliff and watched your targets treat the wounded's bleeding leg.

(So I missed? I was aiming for his neck... oh well, I guess this works too.) You thought as you watched them silently before the injured one noticed you and alerted his allies.

One of them threw three shuriken at you as he turned towards you, but you avoided them easily by leaning away from their path. (They're panicking... I've won). You affirmed as you stood up, a bored expression on your face as your (H/l/c) hair and sleeves moved with the wind while your (Y/c) eyes shined in the dark.

Shinobi 1: A kid? Our squad was wiped out by just one kid?

The shinobi stuttered as he backed away.

(Did the age or appearance of someone really matter that much?)

Shinobi 2: What are you staring at?! Just who the hell are you?! What village are you from?!

The injured one stood up, his face completely trapped in fear.

(These men were about to die. What purpose was there in answering someone whose last moments would be as practice for your new Jutsu?)

Shinobi 3: We are shinobi of the Hidden Leaf and you are trespassing in territory belonging to the Land of Fire. Why are you here?

The last shinobi asked, maintaining a much calmer composure than the other two.

You were tired of this exchange, none of them held any value to you as opponents so you slowly raised you hand up to your head, hypnotizing them with anticipation of your next move. When you closed your hand your three clones ran out from the shadows.

They were extremely agile as they locked each target down with their small bodies, holding the shinobi's arms down with their legs and wrapped one arm around their necks to choke them down then held their heads up to you with their other hands. The three shinobi struggled under your clones as they were forced to look up at you.

Shinobi 1: Ha nice try, but if you're going to use Shadow Clones then you need to hide your real body otherwise it's easy for enemies to get away!

You saw him able to take out a kunai even with his arm being held down and then he stabbed your clone's leg causing it to explode in a small ball of fire killing the scared target.

(So they underestimated them because I revealed myself? That's valuable information). You thought as you analyzed your opponent's actions.

As the flames and smoke slowly revealed the shinobi's lifeless face you gazed over to the other two. Thanks to the reckless actions of their comrade you now knew that your new jutsu was strong enough to kill targets of their level so you calmly passed your hand through the air and signaled the other two clones to explode. The two screams combined with the blast of the explosions as they became consumed in the flames.

Basking in the success of your new jutsu you stretched your arms out to the side letting the black and green overlong sleeves of your kimono hang down and enjoyed the sight of the flames and the heat warming your face. You didn't like the smell of smoke very much and started coughing after inhaling too much of it, the smell of burning flesh was also very unpleasant and you covered your mouth and nose with your hand to keep any more away from your senses.

Shinobi 3: Y-you b-bastard...

You looked down and saw the leader crawling out from the burning crater. He was severely injured with most of his upper body covered in serious burns and his lower body completely blown away and burnt black.

(Still alive?) You questioned the strange result as you had made sure to put the same amount of chakra into each of your clones and the others had certainly been killed. You dashed to the side of the dying shinobi and crouched down to examine him.

Shinobi 3: Get away from me!

He yelled as he reached out to hit you away only to have you stab a kunai into his hand and pin it to the ground.

(I see... Your vest has some extra protection. This is too damaged to study, I need to look into spotting the difference in armor like this.) You planned your possible improvements as you discovered the cause of the man's survival. (Thank you for the information.) You took the kunai from his hand and stabbed him in the head, cutting the strap of the metal headband off his head and made it fall to the ground.

You picked up the headband at your feet and then walked over to the other two craters. Your arms extended into the fire and pulled out the other headbands from both corpses.

(Y/n): That's 9 more to my collection. Now I have more of these than those from the Hidden Sand.

You maintained an expressionless look as you examined the three new headbands in one hand and the other six in the other as you held them out in front of you.

As you were admiring your prizes a small white snake with glowing golden eyes and a black diamond shaped marking that went from its forehead to halfway down its back slithered out from the neckline of your kimono and passed under your chin.

(Y/n): Hello Yang did I wake you? I'm sorry. The new Jutsu worked pretty well don't you think?

You greeted the serpent with a calm subtle smile as it slithered from beside your cheek down your arm as it went under the headbands in your hand and went back up to rest on your hand.

(Y/n): I believe that gives us 17 from the Hidden Stone, 24 from the Hidden Mist, 36 from the Hidden Cloud, 38 from the Hidden Sand and now 43 from the Hidden Leaf.

You face relaxed as you recalled the amount of each of your trophies.

Yang slithered back to your head and went around your neck a few times and hung loosely like a scarf as it came back and rested on your right ear to have the same view as you did.

(Y/n): I like these the most so I'm glad I have more now.

Your (E/c) eyes closed with relief as you lowered the 9 headbands down and put them away in the pouch strapped to the left waist side of your black pants and hidden under your loose kimono.

Orochimaru: Excellent work as always (Y/n).

You turned to see the two men standing behind you. Your father Orochimaru clapped his hands at what he saw and his aid Kabuto simply stood beside him. They were both leagues ahead of the squad you had just wiped out so you didn't sense them in any way as they approached.

Kabuto: Lord Orochimaru, was that the new jutsu you thought him?

Orochimaru: Hmm no. That was one (Y/n) has been working on all on his own. Isn't it impressive?

He hummed with pride at your accomplishments.

Kabuto: I see, could you please explain how it works then (Y/n)? I need to be able to take all of your skills into consideration for your missions.

He fixed his glasses and stared at the three burning craters next to you.

(Y/n): I call it the Blast Clone jutsu. I infuse flame release chakra when creating my shadow clones. Then instead of simply vanishing in a puff of smoke they explode when destroyed.

You explained as you pet Yang's head with your index finger.

Orochimaru: Truly an inspiring technique my boy.

Your father grinned to praise you as he walked over and then laid his pale white hand on your head as he passed you. This was the reward you got at the end of each mission if you were successful and it was the signal he gave to let you follow after him.

Upon returning to the underground hideout you saw some of your father's bodyguards standing in front of the gates. You simply followed your father as he walked the dark halls of your home.

Orochimaru: Kabuto, I want you to get everything ready. We need to analyze (Y/n) to see if we can't improve his new jutsu so take him to the lab tonight.

You father pointed down the corridor away from your room as he expressed his orders.

Kabuto: Yes sir, right away.

He bowed as always and then put his hand on your shoulder, waiting for you to obey what your father expected.

Without say a word, you went down the hallway to the labs with Kabuto following behind you.

At the end of the long hall was a large steel door. In silence Kabuto opened it and waited for you to go inside. This was how it always was. The only time your father ever spoke to you was during training and before and after missions.

The labs was were all your fathers creations came from and it was the most terrifying place you had ever been and you hated having to go in there. Each of your footsteps felt heavier as you walked in and followed Kabuto.

The bodies submerged in the cylindrical tanks around you were what scared you the most. You never saw your father take them out and simply experimented on them while leaving them inside their tanks. If you had ever failed would he abandon you here like all of them? You didn't know but hoped you would never find out.

Kabuto: All right (Y/n) undress and I'll set you up to go in.

He ordered as he went over to the computers on the side.

You followed his instructions and started removing your clothes. As you took off your kimono you saw Yang wrapped over your right shoulder down to your chest. She woke up from the sudden draft and you greeted her with a gentle pet on her forehead and carefully took her off of you and put her on top of your clothes to be near your scent.

Kabuto knew better than to take Yang away from you after his first attempt to 'relieve you' of the small snake and you nearly bit out one of his eyes for trying and ever since then no one dared do any harm to your only friend.

After removing your clothes you walked over to Kabuto and he prepared you to enter the tank. He injected a few nodes on you so that his machines could read your bodies information and then placed a mask over your head and fixed it to your mouth.

You walked up the steps next to the tank and looked down waiting for Kabuto to give you permission to step into the strange liquid. You looked over to your discarded clothes and saw Yang had already fallen asleep on top of your kimono.

Kabuto: All right (Y/n) go ahead.

You nodded and dove into the tank. After the bubbles had cleared away you were able to see the outside a bit as you started to relax and float. You quickly dozed off as Kabuto started to work. There was nothing you could do until they had drained the tank so you simply slept during these tests.

You woke up still in the cylindrical tank. Kabuto wasn't around and neither was your father... Something was wrong. You swam up and climbed out of the tank grabbing the towel next to the stairs and dried yourself off. You stood on the top of the stairs to see if anyone else was in the lab, but aside from the test subjects that were always kept here you were alone.

The cold metal floor made you shiver as you wandered around without putting on your clothes. You turned once you felt a presence behind you, but it was only Yang. You smiled at the sight of your pet and crouched down with your hand reaching out to her. She slithered up your arm and wrapped herself around your neck again.

Just as you had started to feel some relief a group of men burst into the room. They were wearing Hidden Leaf headbands, some were even wearing animal masks and you instantly understood what had happened.

Somehow they had found this hideout and before your father could retrieve you he was forced to retreat or risk being captured. For the first time in your life you felt something grip your heart. It hurt more than any injury you took during a mission. You were abandoned out of convenience.

You had always looked up to Orochimaru, as distant as he was never cruel to you. He was patient in teaching you and always made sure you were taken care of after a mission. He never told you what to do if something like this ever happened so you simply stood in the middle of the lab with Yang around your neck as the Hidden Leaf entered your home.

Anbu 1: It's a kid?

Anbu 2: Hey kid, are you ok?

One of the men in masks walked over to you.

You thought about what to do, but without Orochimaru to tell you what was allowed you didn't know if you should kill these men or simply remain quiet so you just stood there frozen.

Anbu 2: Go get one of the commanders, tell them we found someone!

One of the other two men dashed out of the room as the one in front of you walked a bit closer.

Your head was starting to hurt as you tried to think of what you could do, but without your father nothing made sense. He was the one who told you who to kill, track and capture. You were free to act however you wanted when he gave an objective, but now you had to decide for yourself and couldn't.

Years of obeying whatever orders were given to you left you conditioned, without Orochimaru you were nothing but a weapon without anyone to use. First you felt despair after being abandoned and now as you fell to your knees you felt empty. You had never expressed much emotion, but now there were tears coming from your (E/c) eyes as you stared blankly at the floor.

You heard the men around you welcome someone into the room. A man with silver hair and a mask covering his face walked over to you and crouched in front of you.

Kakashi: Hello there. You know this is very dangerous place to be... do you know where you are kid?

With no defenses up you answered him willingly.

(Y/n): Home.

Kakashi: I see... This mission just became a whole lot more complicated.

The man sighed as he stood up and thought for a minute on what he would do next.

Anbu 3: Sir, what are your orders?

Kakashi: Right, get this kid dressed. We're taking him back to the village with us!

The others followed his instructions and tossed your clothes on you before escorting you outside.

Sarutobi (Third Hokage) P.O.V

The Leader of Hidden Leaf sat in the conference room alone as he waited for the Elite Ninja to join him. The times of peace had let him enjoy his twilight years, but earlier when he entered his desk there was an envelope with name of his former student written on it, Orochimaru.

It had been ten years since his monstrous experiments were discovered and he fled the village and now in just a few days reports came in of having spotted his former apprentice in the surrounding forest. Even with all of his decades of experience, Sarutobi was still the boy's teacher so in a corner of his heart he had hoped that Orochimaru had corrected his path... how wrong he was.

The envelope rustled over his fingers as he reached in for the papers inside. He pulled out a heavy stack of papers that was the mission report. He read through it carefully taking in every detail from the blue prints of the hideout, the condition of each of his prisoners to the living quarters of his agents.

The last one was what got his attention the most. Orochimaru was always a complex, but arrogant man so the room that had an organized collection of headbands from fallen warriors of the five great ninja countries felt somewhat out of place. There would have been no reason for Orochimaru to take such trophies, after all he had fought in the last ninja war without developing such a hobby and held a high distain for the fragility of life ever since he was a child so why would he collect something to remind himself of those he had killed?

As he flipped through the report the last few pages suddenly cut off from the main document and held a picture of a child at the top of the page. The boy was 13 years old with (H/l/c) hair, (E/c) eyes, (S/c) skin and had an eerie resemblance to Orochimaru and the name (Y/n) written on the page.

The pages that followed the young boy's picture weren't from the report written by one of his men, but from Orochimaru himself. Each page had a different texture and size as they were all compiled from various journals. The elder prepared himself as he looked down at the documents his ninja had recovered, knowing that whatever Orochimaru could have done to this boy could not be pleasant.

(Does your evil know no bonds Orochimaru)? Sarutobi asked the memories of his student as he remembered an unsettling smile Orochimaru once gave.

As twisted as he was, Orochimaru's records held great detail on the boy. The list of experiments was extensive.

The Soft Physique Modification technique let him stretch contort his arms, able to use Summoning Technique to summon snakes and use them for other techniques such as Hidden Striking Shadow Snakes to summon snakes from either his wrist or sleeve to follow after a punch.

Sarutobi stroked his chin as he contemplated the boys abilities at such a young age. (Y/n) also seemed to be skilled sensor and medic as the notes of his missions were highlighted and even earned some small notes from Orochimaru himself.

"(Y/n) was able to take down an entire squad of shinobi from the Hidden Cloud single handedly at the age of 8... I'm surprisingly proud of him." Was written along the side of the main text.

According to Orochimaru, (Y/n)'s advancement in taijutsu allowed him to hold his own against many shinobi.

"I have begun to teach (Y/n) how to fight using my own techniques in the hopes of giving him a taste for true combat and a sense of fighting a superior foe. This will be ideal for me as well if I can personally train him to reach my level in just a few years then my own power will grow as well." A small handwritten footnote at the bottom of the page gave some idea to Orochimaru's intentions for the young boy. The notes went on to say that the (Y/n)'s small body made it perfect to dodge and redirect attacks from larger opponents allowing him to slip through their defenses.

The final page was a note written from Kakashi Hatake concerning the boy's retrieval and interrogation.

"It should be said that while (Y/n) did surrendered himself quietly, he did not give any information on Orochimaru or name any of his allies. I did try to speak with him, but he remained silent. I was forced to hand him over to the Torture and Interrogation Force. They were unable to continue extracting information from him as his mind is in too fragile a state. Awaiting your permission on how to handle our current situation with (Y/n)."

Finally reaching the end of the long document Sarutobi sat in silence. (This boy is Orochimaru's son... this won't be easy). He sighed as he thought on the possibilities and then sent word for his elite ninja to gather before him to discuss their options.

After a few hours Sarutobi had gathered everyone who could help resolve the situation with Orochimaru's son. Kakashi, Ibuki from the interrogation force, Danzo the leader of the Anbu corps, Anko from the recon group and Iruka from the Academy. They each looked over Orochimaru's notes on (Y/n) and were ready to decide what would be best for the village.

Sarutobi: Well, what do you think my friends?

Ibuki: Let me rip his mind apart. He doesn't have any defenses to speak of, but the shock of being abandoned has left his mind too fragile to read properly. Orochimaru did a hell of a job conditioning this kid.

Iruka: Is that even possible?

Anko: Unfortunately with Orochimaru anything is possible. I've seen it before. He trains you ruthlessly, mixes truths with lies, makes you dependent, isolates you and tells you everyone is your enemy all the while promising whatever you wanted.

She bit down on her teeth as she remembered how Orochimaru was when he was her teacher.

Danzo: Killing him is a waste.

He said in a stern voice to remove the idea from consideration.

Danzo: Let me take him back to Root and I'll reshape him into a weapon for the leaf. It will take some time however, but we will be able to use him as we see fit. You all saw how many he killed for Orochimaru... imagine that power on our side.

Anko: It won't work. If he's able to resist our interrogations that should tell you how he'd react if we push him too much. My guess is that he'll lash out and attack you then he'll kill everyone in his way before you can put him down.

Kakashi: So either way we'll have to kill him? Then our best option will be to let Ibuki shatter his mind.

Sarutobi: No. I-I agree with Danzo.

His answer shocked everyone, especially since he had often argued with Danzo over his methods.

Sarutobi: But I don't think that the Anbu would be the best fit for him.

Kakashi: You're not going to say we should allow him to join one of the squads are you?

Sarutobi: The students who just graduated from the academy are about to start their training as a squad aren't they?

Iruka: Forgive me sir, but that's insane.

Anko: You'd be putting their lives in danger. The second one of them annoys him he'll kill them.

Sarutobi: We'll do everything we can to keep the children safe, but that's why we should put him with those his own age. How else will he learn? If we can make him into our ally then he'll open up to us on his own.

There was an uneasy silence as the Hokage had made up his mind.

Ibuki: So we're going to let our best lead to Orochimaru run around freely? That doesn't sound like the best course of action lord Hokage.

Iruka: So... what squad were you thinking of adding him to?

Kakashi: I think I have an idea...

Sarutobi: I am sorry to trouble you with this my friend, but you are the one with the best understanding of the situation. (Y/n) has already met you so hopefully that will help him adjust better.

Kakashi: I can't say I'm happy about this... my team is already filled with troublesome kids as it is, but I'll accept the mission lord Hokage.