Chapter – 57: First encounter with Orochimaru

[Rei Clone POV]

"Hehehehe, you are quite gooood… hisss… most people would get paralyzed in fear or just faint… " I hear a peal of creepy laughter.

Seeing the shadow walking out of my room as if he owns the place, I could confirm, 'So, HE personally came! It's time to say goodbye to this identity I guess… just a few more days and I would … whatever…' I lament.

*bam*

Before I could even process what's going on, I feel a tremendous force crashing into my chest; like getting hit by a truck, and the next thing I know is being slammed into the wall.

He slowly walks up to me, drags me up by my neck from the rubble, and slams my back to the wall again before saying, "Even a Konoha Genin is better than you! and you had the nerve to attack Tsunade?"

[Alert! Alert! Host body is currently in critical condition!]

[Analyzing condition… 1… 2.. 3… Done!]

[Alert: 3 Broken ribs, Four fractures, internal bleeding…

Estimated time until Body falls apart: 227 seconds!]

*cough* *cough* *cough*

Looking at my pitiful appearance, as if losing his interest, throws me back carelessly. My body slides down the wall before coming to a stop after hitting the ground with a thud.

It was so painful that I had to use the A.I chip to isolate the pain. I struggle to open my eyes through all the blood on my face, "That was uncalled for, *cough* it's a pleasure to meet you too, Orochimaru-san *cough**cough* " I make an ugly smile.

"Oh, you are so close to death, and yet you don't seem to mind?" Orochimaru asks with a playful smile.

"Death? Hahaha, you do know how to jest! You guys already know I use the control technique, so why did you assume this time I will be using my real body?" I laugh.

"Mmm, so this is a clone too?" he frowns.

"We are similar people Orochimaru-san, you yourself can guess the answer to your question," I say, "But I must say, I am actually slightly excited to finally meet you…" I smile.

"And why is it that you are excited to meet me?"

"Because you are the only other shinobi I know of who is actually walking outside the rules like me; on a different path… everyone else is just doing what they were told to do…" I shake my head, "If it was someone else who had come to get me, I would have already blown this place to bits. Since it's you I wanted to chat for a bit, but..."

"You seem to be not lying… hiss... but..."

"I told you already we are similar people, it wasn't hard to guess that you or any smart ninja for that matter would clean the place out for any traps, so I didn't bother placing any... you see I don't need to set up any traps because I am the trap! Can you make a guess as to how many explosive tags are on my body?"

"And yet you'd didn't explode any... hisss… interesting…" he looks at me thoughtfully for a moment, "I only came to get your technique of controlling clones but now it seems there is more to you than what meets the eye…"

"Thank you, I guess? *cough* Before I leave, I want to ask you something.*cough* How did the experiments with Hasirama cells go?" I ask with a sly smile.

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I could see a cold glint flash in his eyes. Before I could even blink, a kunai flies from his hand and lodges itself into the wall behind me like a bullet, not before making a sharp cut on my face.

"Hehehe, so you failed ha? *cough* I expected it to be so…" I laugh, "It's time, I will be leaving for now. There will be a lot of opportunities for us to work together in the future Orochimaru-san, so I don't want our first meeting to end on bad terms. How about I give you a little meeting gift, ha? In the basement of the house that is right behind my place in the Land of Noodles, I have created a small makeshift lab that has a bunch of Kekkei Genkai samples and tissues. Think of it as a sign of goodwill from me… *cough* and take caution next time you decide to visit me without notice… hehe"

"Also, you can let the Hokage know that I tried to use my clone control technique on Tsunade to take over her body but I didn't succeed obviously. So, I am not aware of any of Konoha's internal matters and secrets… and that my medical ninjutsu has nothing to with her, if it weren't for all the Kekkei Genkais here, I wouldn't have risked exposing myself like this… so he can rest easy…"

"You don't have to worry too, I won't leak your secrets… Although, how about you pay me for it?"

Orochimaru just looks at me without saying anything. I could guess his inner turmoil. At this point in time, Orochimaru still had the ambition to become the Hokage and if his human experimentation is made public, he might have to defect from Konoha right away. He really wants to kill me now, but too bad he can't…

"What?" he asks coldly after a few seconds.

"Something that will benefit both of us… I want to work with you on the Hashirama-cell research!"

"Oh? you really want to study it?"

"Yes, but please refrain from mentioning it to anyone; I MEAN anyone including your partners Danzo and the council… hehe"

"Goodbye Orochimaru-san… and think about my offer… I will surely meet you again soon, you can give me your answer then, and don't worry even if you reject me, I will still not divulge your secrets… in return keep my storage seal, it has a lot of explosive tags, they are costly you know? I will get it from you next time..." with that the same red flames start to burn my body and within seconds there is nothing left.

Orochimaru looks around with great interest as the blood that was spilled earlier flows back to the clone and everything about it, including its blood turn to ashes; not even a single hair is left!