Chapter 432 – Orochimaru’s Contingency

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Kabuto's Lab - Night - Three days ago.

In an unknown location, a few days before Tsunade Senju woke up from her coma, a certain event took place.

Kabuto was looking over the scrolls in front of him and went through every line inscribed in it. His eyes narrowed behind his glasses and a dark twisted expression formed on his face. The information on the scrolls made him tremble with rage and fear.

'To think the Land of Rice Paddies would be invaded like this… All the laboratories and prisons in that area are gone. The Hidden Sound village Lord Orochimaru had spent years building is now completely destroyed. An unknown ninja attacked the facilities and then clashed with masked ninjas roaming the area.'

Kabuto's fists clenched the scroll and threw it against the wall. "Damn it! Based on the description, the masked ninja must be the Leaf Anbu. But then who destroyed the village? Who was it?"

He was angry because of the fact that years worth of precious research data and rare materials collected by him and Orochimaru had now been destroyed or stolen. Several seconds later he took a few deep breaths and calmed himself. 'No. Now isn't the time to lose control. I have to figure out how they found out. Even if the Leaf knew about me, they wouldn't have been able to get to the Sound Village since I didn't leave much trace.'

Kabuto then thought about the mission Guren had been assigned. 'The plan written down here says that she was tasked with capturing the Genin Daichi for Lord Orochimaru but since she entered the Land of Fire there has been no further contact…'

Kabuto quickly thought about the many possibilities and his eyes widened. 'Yes. That must be it. She must have been defeated and captured by the Leaf. She's the leak. She must be how the Leaf village found out about the Hidden Sound Village… But then the question still remains… Who was the party that clashed with the Leaf ninjas.'

Kabuto took another scroll and went through everything noted down. 'The Leaf shinobi arrived after the chaos started. So someone else other than the Hidden Leaf knew about that base and they struck at the perfect time when it was at its weakest. But who…?'

Suddenly a snake slithered from the shadows and came near Kabuto. The medic ninja quickly bent down and picked up the brown snake. The creature opened its mouth and gave a scroll to Kabuto. He quickly opened it and frowned at the names crossed out on the parchment.

"My guess was right. Looks like they're really dead." He muttered to himself. 'Kimimaro and two of the sound four with him and Guren… All dead… Then does that mean…'

An unsettling thought formed in his mind and he quickly went into a deeper section of his lab. He opened a door to a small chamber filled with seals and saw a scroll in the middle. "I was told to use this only in an emergency and since this constitutes one, I'm sure you won't mind…"

He quickly opened it and poured chakra into the seal matrix written on it. 'I have to make contact with Lord Orochimaru. No matter the situation, he'll be able to escape. Even if the Leaf found out about the plans to abduct Lady Tsunade, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. And even if by some miracle they got to them, Lord Orochimaru would be able to escape any trap they lay out. He's not someone the Leaf can kill easily. Especially since he has hostages in his hands.'

Suddenly the scroll in front of Kabuto burst into purple flames startling him. He looked at the scroll turning to ashes and his face paled in shock. "It… Can't be… He's dead?"

Kabuto sat on the ground and let out a deep breath. He quickly composed himself as his mind tried to figure out what had happened. 'Someone must have found out where he was and attacked Lord Orochimaru. I can't believe they were able to kill him. Was it the Leaf village?... It has to be… No one else would be as motivated. But who in the village would be able to-'

As soon as this question came to mind an answer had already come to him. 'Jiraiya. The last of the Legendary Three. It has to be him. The Hokage wouldn't be able to move from the village. And no one other than Jiraiya is strong enough to accomplish such a thing.'

Kabuto sighed and shook his head. "It looks like I'll have to use the contingency put in place. To think it would come to this..."

He bites his thumb and quickly goes through several hand seals. "Summoning jutsu."

He slammed his palm to the ground and a snake half his size with grey colored scales appeared. Looking at the snake Kabuto quickly formed a seal. Receiving the command from its master, it opened its mouth and soon spit out an unconscious teenager around 18 or 19 years old.

After spitting out the teenager, the grey scales snake withered and died. Kabuto grabbed the sleeping boy and dragged him to the middle of the seals placed in the room.

The grey haired medic started a long chain of hand seals as he looked at the man. "It's time for you to fulfill your role in this life, Renjuzoku."

The seals in the room came to life and began flowing towards the unconscious ninja. It completely covered him and the man Renjuzoku woke up screaming in pain.

The curse seal on his neck came to life and spread all over his body quickly. A fleshy writhing organic mass soon covered his body and Kabuto felt a familiar chakra awakening and strengthening.

A minute later the organic mass crumbled and a familiar pale skinned, black haired, golden eyed man stood in its place.

The Sannin Orochimaru has been resurrected.

He looked at his hands and the room and finally turned his attention to his loyal assistant. "Kabuto. For you to revive me like this… Something must have happened huh?"

"Yes." Kabuto nodded. "I have unpleasant news my Lord."

Orochimaru frowned and began walking with Kabuto following him. "The plan was to go after Tsunade and Shizune two weeks after I created this contingency." He tilted his head and glanced at the medic. "What happened to the other me? Did I fail to capture Tsunade? You wouldn't have revived me if I hadn't been killed."

Kabuto was puzzled upon hearing that. "You… don't know what happened?"

The Sannin shook his head. "I can see through the subject who has my curse seal and find out what's happening but when they can't see, I become blind to the outside world."

The medic ninja nodded as he understood the situation. "So because Renjuzoku has been unconscious since you placed him here, you don't have information on what happened during this time."

"Yes." Orochimaru nodded. They reached the main interior where several of Kabuto's and Orochimaru's experiments were present and ongoing. "Now tell me. What went wrong?"

Kabuto could sense the anger hidden behind the calm voice. He quietly sighed and began telling him everything he knew.

Time went by and Orochimaru grew angrier and angrier. When he learned that his plans failed and the Hidden Sound Village he had created was destroyed, he became extremely furious. In his rage he destroyed a portion of the lab.

Kabuto wanted to stop his master but knew that anything he said would only anger him more.

"I have several other pieces of news." Kabuto spoke after his master regained control of his emotions. Orochimaru stayed silent but his eyes slightly narrowed. "The Finance Minister in the Land of Earth was attacked and interrogated and his wife is currently missing. A man called Dragon is responsible. He also infiltrated the Hidden Leaf village and killed Danzo along with a number of Root ninjas."

"Danzo is dead?" That was a surprise for the Sannin. "Who is this Dragon?"

"Full name is Monkey D Dragon. Other than that, he's an unknown." Kabuto shook his head. "The Leaf village has placed him in the bingo books and marked him as an S Rank threat. And the Daimyo of Earth has put a considerable bounty on his head."

"Do they know our plan? About my involvement with the minister?"

Kabuto shook his head. "Not that I know of. I've been keeping myself hidden so I don't have any more information from the Land of Earth."

The more Orochimaru thought about it the angrier he became. 'All my efforts and resources. Years worth of planning. It's all gone! Who was it?' He swung his hand and another portion of the room was destroyed.

Orochimaru soon controlled his rage and turned to Kabuto who kept a calm facade. "Is there anyone in the cells below?"

"Yes. A few. Why?"

"Get 5 of them. I'm going to use the reanimation jutsu. I want to get the answers straight from the source." Orochimaru's plan made Kabuto nod to himself. 'That's a good way to get the most accurate intel as quickly as possible.'

He quickly made his way to the lower floors to grab a few to sacrifice for the forbidden jutsu while Orochimaru made the preparations.

Soon–

"Summoning Jutsu. Reanimation!" Orochimaru clasped his hands and roared. The five people kneeling in front of him began to scream as seals spread around the ground and dust and particles began to cover their body.

Kabuto stood several feet behind his master and observed everything with a calm face. 'An extremely powerful jutsu with almost no backlash to the user. I need to figure its secrets out one day.'

In less than a minute the figures of Kimimaro, Tayuya, Sakon and Ukon, Kidomaru and Jirobo stood in front of him.

Kabuto looked at the five of them and sighed. 'So all five of them are indeed dead. I had hoped there might have been some mistake but it seems we've encountered the worst possible outcome.'

Meanwhile Orochimaru had a stony expression as he looked at them. 'The plan was for Tayuya, Sakon and Ukon to accompany me while the rest returned to the Hidden Sound village. To kill all of them… How did the Leaf even accomplish such a thing? If only I had stored Guren's blood sample here. I could have reanimated her as well.'

At this time, the reanimated sound four and Kimimaro gained consciousness and looked at their hands.

"We're alive? This feels fucking weird." Tayuya whispered before tilting her head up. She saw the face of her master and by the expression on his face knew he was angry.

"Lord Orochimaru!" Tayuya was shocked and immediately fell to her knees.

The rest of them immediately noticed their master and followed Tayuya's example.

"Tayuya. Sakon. How did you die? What happened to Tsunade and me?" The fury and impatience in the Sannin's tone was heard by all.

The two quickly began to recap everything that had happened. From Tsunade and Shizune's capture to the large-scale raid by the Leaf village in the Land of Fire.

"So they even found out about the hidden 8th base huh? To find its location so quickly, that's impressive. Maybe I've underestimated sensei. It seems all these years of peace haven't dulled his senses." Orochimaru had an amusing expression but only Kabuto knew that the man was displeased with the results. 'To defeat the reanimation of the First Hokage and the Eight Tails jinchuriki… Only for someone like Jiraiya would that be possible. He must have led a team composed of several Anbu or Elite Jonin.'

"Did my other self say who it was that destroyed the Eighth hidden base in the Land of Fire?" Orochimaru asked Tayuya and Sakon.

"No my Lord." They shook their heads. "You simply said, there was someone unexpected among them."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "Someone unexpected?" 'Now who could that be?'

"Continue." Kabuto spoke and the two guards quickly told them the rest.

They recalled sensing Daichi and Kakashi's arrival and finally their battle with the Copy cat ninja.

"So he killed you two and you don't even know anything else?" The rage inside Orochimaru boiled. Several snakes flew from his hand and tore right through Tayuya's body, shredding it to multiple pieces.

The Snake Sannin took a deep breath and turned to Sakon who was trembling on his knees. Even though he was a reanimation who couldn't feel pain, his mind and heart held great fear for his master.

"Are you certain that my other self went to confront Daichi and just him?" Orochimaru asked with crossed arms.

"We didn't sense anyone else, my Lord." Sakon replied quickly.

At that moment Kabuto spoke and offered his thoughts. "Daichi alone doesn't have the strength to defeat you. Even if he may be as strong as a Jonin, it's impossible. And even if he and Kakashi joined forces and by some miracle defeated you… Well, it still would have been impossible to kill or trap you… Unless-"

"Unless they weren't alone." Orochimaru completed his thoughts. "Since Guren is missing, we can assume that she's in the hands of the Leaf village. She's either dead or in interrogation. Sensei must have found out that Daichi is also one of my targets."

Kabuto nodded. "Yes. If that's the case then the Hokage wouldn't let Daichi come to you without any backup. Jiraiya must have been with him, maybe a few elite Jonin as well. They must have used some method to stay out of your sensory range."

Orochimaru growled as the sequence of events slowly formed in his mind. 'That Genin must have used himself as a diversion. Jiraiya is good at infiltration and he must have been the one to rescue Tsunade and her apprentice. After that they somehow must have cornered and killed me. That has to be it.'

"There are still some questions that need answers." Kabuto spoke. "First, how did the Leaf village find out where you were so quickly? And how much do they know about your plan? The attack on the Finance minister. Was it related to them?"

The Sannin nodded. "Yes. Whoever Dragon is, I'm looking forward to meeting him." He turned his attention to Kimimaro, Jirobo and Kidomaru. "Tell me everything that happened!"

Kimimaro began with his version of events. Soon after Jirobo and Kidomaru told Orochimaru what had happened to them as well. They told them everything with as much detail as they could. But while they were recounting the events a contradiction occurred.

"Kimimaro, you gave us the order to patrol the outer perimeter in the morning. Don't you remember?" Kidomaru spoke with some confusion.

"I would remember if I gave you such an order. I didn't." Kimimaro narrowed his eyes and looked at the four armed ninja with some hostility.

Kabuto frowned while Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "Kimimaro. You said, you went to the library on the west side before you lost consciousness? Exactly when?"

Hearing his master's question, Kimimaro recalled the time of the event. "March 22 maybe around 12 am."

Kabuto and the Sannin immediately understood what had happened. 'So someone took down Kimimaro and then disguised themselves as him. And they were good enough to fool Kidomaru and Jirobo with their transformation.'

"When did you die, Kidomaru, Jirobo?" Kabuto asked them.

"March 23. Around 4 am. There was a man who called himself Sabo. He attacked me out of nowhere." Kidomaru replied with fear in his voice.

The two sound four ninjas recalled how Sabo used powerful Taijutsu and Fire style ninjutsu to destroy the lab.

"He said he was a subordinate of Dragon. And said it was Dragon's will to destroy the Hidden Sound vill-." Jirobo added and a second later his head exploded into dust.

Kabuto sighed and looked at his master. "I know you're angry, Lord Orochimaru but at least let him finish. He has useful intelligence on our enemies."

The Sannin sneered as he looked at the medic/spy. "A whole day. Someone I didn't even know about was walking in my base taking or destroying years worth of my work. And these fools didn't even see it."

"Yes. But right now that's not the most important point. I'm sure you've also noticed it, Lord Orochimaru. These two died almost at the same time Tayuya and Sakon died." Kabuto pointed out and the Snake Sannin nodded.

"A coincidence or a coordinated attack?"

"I don't think he's from the Hidden Leaf village, my Lord." Kidomaru spoke cautiously.

"And what makes you say that?" The Sannin had killing intent as he looked at his kneeling guard.

Kidomaru swallowed and spoke. "Whe- When we fought, I asked him if he was part of the Leaf ninjas. That man, Sabo, when he heard that question he became angry. He said he's not part of such a weak, disgusting village. And he said that one day his master would control the five great nations. I asked him why he was attacking the base. He said…" Kidomaru stopped and glanced at his master.

"Don't waste my time Kidomaru. Tell me exactly what he said."

Feeling the dangerous tone and killing intent coming from his master, Kidomaru spoke the exact words Sabo had said to him. "He said 'that worm Orochimaru is in the way.' Forgive me Lord. These are his words. Not mine. After that he killed me with a fire jutsu."

The sound guard braced for his master's retaliation but the expected attack never came. He tilted his head up to see a small smile on the Sannin's face.

"HuhuhuHAHAHAHAHA!"

Kabuto looked at the laughing Sannin with a frown. "Lord Orochimaru, maybe you could share the joke with us as well?"

Orochimaru chuckled and glanced at Kabuto. "It's been a long time since I've had to face a bold, interesting opponent. Especially one who sees me of all people as a worm. I'm looking forward to meeting him."

"I thought we would be focusing on relocation and rebuilding our resources?" The spy asked with some confusion.

"Yes." The Sannin nodded. "I have a feeling that once the world finds out about my return, this Dragon will come to me personally… In the meantime Kabuto, you and I are going out. We need to see which all labs haven't been compromised and salvage what we can."

"And what about Tsunade? There hasn't been any news. At least I haven't heard anything." Kabuto frowned and looked at his master.

"Mmm. Yes. I've already put so much resources into capturing her. I need to find out what happened? I want to see if my dear teammate is saved and alive or not. If she's dead, I'll have to get her corpse. So once we take stock of everything, we're going to the Hidden Leaf."

The former Leaf ninja was startled. "Are you sure that's wise my Lord? They'll no doubt be on guard. Especially at this time. If they find out you're alive, it would remove the element of surprise. The Hokage himself will no doubt face you."

Orochimaru had a mad grin on his face. "Kabuto. No matter what happens, I won't let them kill me a second time."

Kabuto nodded. He turned his attention back to the five reanimations. "What about them?"

Orochimaru had a displeased frown in his face. He made a hand seal and the five began to turn to dust. A signal that the reanimation jutsu had been cancelled. "They're of no value now. Keeping them in that state is useless. It's time to find some better competent guards."

Soon Kabuto disposed of the 5 corpses and left his lab with his master.

Author's note:

They were able to piece together some correct and some false events based on the information they received and their own knowledge.

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