Orochimaru.

Moving my hand I grabbed Kabuto by the neck, squeezing tightly as I barged in and slammed him in the wall.

"Let's not waste too much time, shall we? I know who you are, I know you work for Orochimaru and I have a proposition for him that he'll no doubt want to hear so give him a message from me. He can dictate the terms and location of our meeting, even bring a few of his goonies if he feels insecure. Now nod if you understand."

After I finished speaking Kabuto nodded his head and I let his throat go, making him fall flat gasping for breath.

"You no doubt know who I am and how you can reach me… and do not worry, you are not exposed yet, only I know about your true allegiance."

As Kabuto slowly rose up, he repositioned his glasses and looked at me carefully.

"If you do not mind me asking Uchiha-sama… why do you want to meet Orochimaru-sama?" – Kabuto asked carefully.

"I don't see how that's any of your business but let's think of it as an incentive. I have a way for your master to obtain a pair of his favored eyes… and a body to go with them as well. Of course, this help won't be for free but I have a feeling he'll be willing to pay the price. After all, right now it's a rather rare and exotic valuable isn't it."

As Kabuto looked at me he suddenly smiled.

"Indeed Uchiha-sama, it is as you say. It is a rather hard commodity to come buy especially a package deal such as the one you are offering. I'll make sure my master considers the offer carefully before deciding. Though I would have to ask regarding how steep this price will be?"

Kabuto asked slowly.

"Do not worry, what I need from your master is his help and knowledge in a little experiment of my own. Nothing that his knowledge can't afford to disclose and if he doesn't want to share, he can conduct it himself… as long as he is bears results."

Kabuto appeared thoughtful at my last remark.

"I see. While I cannot decide for Orochimaru-sama, I will most likely meet you next time bearing a positive response." – he said with a smile on his face.

"I certainly look forward to it." – I replied smiling back at him.

----------------------------------

It had been 2 weeks since my meeting with Kabuto and right now I was on my way to meet Orochimaru. As soon as I landed on the clearing, multiple shinobi appeared on my sides, firing Jutsus and heading towards me with their weapons unsheathed.

"Susanoo" – I muttered as my eyes rotated and the Mangekyou appeared in my eyes.

Standing with my arms crossed nothing passed through my Susanoo as four arms unfolded, wielding swords in their hands and in one swing taking out more than a dozen of the shinobi surrounding me. Bodies were cut in two and chakra was sent flying in all directions as the blades unleashed themselves on the defenseless shinobi. It cut right through any defense Jutsu and knocked the ones who tried to dodged far into the forest.

As I deactivated my Susanoo, I heard footsteps along with clapping in front of me. Orochimaru was walking slowly with Kabuto on his left.

"Quite impressive, those eyes never cease to amaze do they? Then again credit must be given to the wielder as not anyone can just use them. So Kei-Kun, now that you've proven that you have the strength to negotiate, what is it that you propose?" – Orochimaru asked as a grin formed in his face.

Walking forward I stopped in front of him.

"Simple really, I will help you convince Sasuke Uchiha to join you in his quest for power… what you do from there though, it's up to you. People are not open to the idea of a snake slipping into their skin." - I said slowly, my face never changing.

Orochimaru's grin only widened as he heard my proposal.

"I see, but what is it that you need from me in exchange?"

"While I do not lack power, I do lack knowledge… especially the one needed to bring someone back to life."

His eyes widened with his smile as my sentence finished.

"A fellow researcher into the mysteries of life… but who is it that you wish to bring back to life? Family, possible but you do not seem the sentimental type, friends, definitely not, and if it's not for personal reasons it must be someone powerful. To teach you something I would assume. I believe a forbidden technique should suffice if that is your aim, and they won't even have the choice to refuse." – Orochimaru smiled as he deduced, slowly walking circles around me.

"Close but not really, you see, I don't need the Impure World Resurrection, I need the real thing. Soul, flesh, and blood."

"And what makes you think that I could possibly help with resurrecting someone? I search for immortality for a reason you know… not to die in the first place."

"True, but I refuse to believe a genius like you wouldn't leave something behind in the off chance that he would die… even if the chance of someone bringing you back was minimal." – I said as I grinned at him… and he grinned back.

"You would be correct… there are ways to bring someone back to life, but the only one I can safely say would work correctly would be a lifeforce transfer."

"And you can perform it?" – I asked.

"In theory, I never had to before. You see, sufficient lifeforce would need to be transferred to a recently deceased body to be able for the deceased to rise again… doing it in someone who has died long before and with their soul already departed would require rather special means, a way to call the soul back. That would be the impure world reincarnation but the problem now remains in the lifeforce."

"To recreate the body would require more lifeforce I would assume." – I said

"Right and wrong. You see, while the body can be brought back to life with just the life of one person, they would not remain alive for long. This essentially gives the revived person a few days to live, at best."

"So the person can be brought back from the dead, even if only for a few days."

"And you explained to me because someday, I might just need you back, should you ever be dead. With this as starting point I can figure out a way to bring you back, hopefully for long enough so you can move to another body." – I smirked at him.

"You do catch on rather quickly. So who is it you want to bring back from the dead? My spies have told me how you resemble Minato these days… is it perhaps him that you want?"

"Ah yes, the Yellow Flash might be versatile, but I was thinking of someone else, someone who could help me in my most lacking area currently. I was thinking of Minato's better half, Kushina Uzumaki."

His eyes widened at my unexpected answer.

"And her DNA? It isn't exactly readily available."

"And you mean to tell me you didn't happen to pick up some strands of that beautiful red hair. Even if picked up in a passing thought, you would never throw it away, as you would never think of not picking up the DNA of one of the last surviving Uzumaki." – I smirked at him.

"Kukuku… you know me quite well Kei-Kun. It will take me some time to retrieve it, but I would appreciate it if we could continue it after Sasuke decides to join me." -Orochimaru said as he laughed.

"I have time." – I responded back as my eyes shined red.

While Susanoo is all well and good for bashing Tailed beasts, the adamantine chains were much more versatile and effective together with Kushina's knowledge of seals. If weakened they could almost fully restrain the nine-tails, I looked forward to what they could do in my hands.