19 Orochimaru Makes a Move

For years, Sunagakure suffered a series of budget cuts by the daimyo of the Land of Wind, weakening the village and thus re-routing ninja missions to Konoha. One day, Orochimaru, a missing-nin from Konoha who founded Otogakure, approached the Fourth Kazekage with the proposition of a joint invasion using the Chunin Exams, making a "Konoha Crush" plan, hosted in Konoha as a cover to attack. Orochimaru, at some point, murdered the Kazekage and assumed his identity on the day of the Chunin Exams' final matches to make controlling Sunagakure easier.

The attack was meant to be fought on two fronts: Sunagakure's jinchuriki Gaara would make it to the final rounds of the chunin exams and release his tailed beast Shukaku from the center of the village. While Konoha was preoccupied with the One-Tail, Sunagakure and Otogakure forces would break through the walls surrounding the village. However, once Gaara was injured by Sasuke Uchiha during the finals, he was left mentally unsuited for fulfilling his role in the invasion. Therefore Orochimaru's subordinate, Kabuto, instead cast the Temple of Nirvana Technique on the stadium where the finals were being held, putting most present to sleep and signaling the invasion.

The Konoha ninja that were present and able to fend off the genjutsu, including most notably Might Guy and Kakashi, immediately engaged the Oto ninja that had earlier infiltrated the stadium, masking as ordinary spectators, to protect the civilians present. Kabuto also then remained there.

On Konoha's outskirts, Suna and Oto ninja, with help of some of Orochimaru's large snake summons, they prepared way earlier, punched holes in the village's defenses, eliminated the border guards, on the wall scouting outposts, and moved into the village outskirts. All combat-ready ninja of Konoha nearby immediately sought out the invaders to give the citizens time to escape to the safe area behind the Hokage Rock. Having taken the villagers by surprise the Suna and Oto were able to claim some early victories, in part benefiting from the surprise of giant snakes rampaging throughout the village.

Meanwhile, Baki, a Sunagakure jonin, informed Kankuro and Temari to take Gaara elsewhere, to recover and proceed with the plan. Sasuke, confused about what is going on, follows the three, wanting to finish his fight with Gaara and help the Konoha. Kakashi noticed that Sakura too has managed to shake the genjutsu, and told her to wake Naruto and Shikamaru so that they can follow Sasuke. She does so, though she finds that Shikamaru was also unaffected by the genjutsu, choosing to pretend as he had so that he could avoid being drawn into battle. To help in their pursuit of Sasuke, Kakashi summons Pakkun, ninja ninken, to guide them, and the four set off.

The Fourth Kazekage also held a kunai to the Third Hokage's neck, making him hostage and allowing them both to get to the roof of their sitting area without confrontation. As one group of Anbu members tried to come to the Third's rescue, while the other protected the feudal lord, the Kazekage's minions erected the Four Violet Flames Formation, preventing anyone from getting in or out. As the Kazekage began to mock the Third for getting so old and even going so far as to call him "sensei", the Third realized that the Kazekage is actually Orochimaru in disguise, who sheds his disguise so that he can face his former master face to face.

At that point Might Guy and Kakashi couldn't intervene because they shielded the civilian crowd, and believed in the Hokage, as seen as how he easily let himself get restrained inside that barrier, probably wanting to fight with Orochimaru himself. Not like they could crack that barrier anyway.

And now while everything was in chaos, Neji masked himself up, opened his Byakugan, and quietly left the hallways of the giant Konoha fighting arena. He was going straight for the Hokage's residence at full speed, but from a roundabout way through a forest that encompassed the entirety of Konoha, also his favorite place out of the whole village. He already had a route and a plan ready.

He's going to employ all of this mayhem in order to achieve his objective. Though he was also aware that real Konoha forces weren't deployed yet, as currently, they were all focused on getting women and children to safety in Konoha's secret hideouts before launching a counter-attack of their own. That's why he's going to leave for the residence right after Konoha's full forces go out as well.

So, once he finally saw with Byakugan the tide of the battle slowly turning in Konoha's favor, he launched himself fully for the Hokage's personal residence where the Scroll of Seals should be.

A Scroll of Seals was a scroll containing instructions about how to perform various dangerous jutsu. When certain types of jutsu were deemed forbidden following the end of the Warring States Period, the First Hokage placed the information about these jutsu within the Scroll of Seals. The scrolls were subsequently stored at the Hokage Residence, unavailable to be read by anyone but the Hokage.

After a few minutes, Neji finally came in a range from which he could inspect the building, in question, with his Byakugan, 'Weird, only ten Anbus are there? Did they not guard this place heavily at all while Hiruzen was not here, or they left now to help with the invasion? Well, doesn't matter to me.', Neji quickly analyzed, ten ordinary Anbus were something that he could deal with quite easily.

'The real problem is whether the Scroll of Seals has some kind of protective seal on its own as well.',

'But judging from when Naruto took it back then, it shouldn't have. But no need to know, maybe it was purposefully lifted out for Naruto by Hiruzen, or they placed it later as a response after that.',

'If it comes to that, then I'll simply take it for Orochimaru and ask him to help me lift the seal, as I'm not especially good at fuinjutsu.', Neji thought about many variables as he suddenly sprinted for it.

The Hokage Residence was a large mansion occupied by the Hokage during their tenure and is located close to both the Academy and Hokage Rock. Circular in design, it was also one of the largest buildings in Konohagakure, towering over most other buildings. There is also the kanji for "Fire" painted on the roof of the building. Those Anbu were all carefully hidden around the building.

As Neji still didn't want to get discovered, he decided that after killing them, he would store their bodies inside of the scroll he prepared, alongside the needed jutsu itself. It was a simple fuinjutsu.

He came to their sensing range like lighting, in his Second Gate form, killing them decisively one by one, before they managed to regroup, only to be destroyed by his new jutsu the Senjutsu: Rotation!

And the Scroll of Seals was later surprisingly easy to find with his Byakugan with the ability to scan large areas, and especially suited for searches like this one, as it could help Neji see through walls.

The Scroll of Seals was without a seal on its own, and the "Spirit Transformation Technique" was there as Neji needed. It was truly easy, but, if they stationed more Anbus there, it might've not been.

He quickly copied just that specific technique, instead of stealing the whole thing, to avoid inducing more wrath in Konoha's elders resulting in more searches later. Now was the most critical time of his plan, if he wanted freedom. At any rate, the remaining techniques were either all rubbish or simply useless to him. Therefore, he rationally calculated his risk-to-reward ratio while doing this move.

He doesn't have high spatial affinity or years to learn the Flying Thunder God, like Minato, he didn't have any desire whatsoever for the Reaper Death Seal, Eight Gates, or the Edo Tensei. And they were the best techniques written there in Neji's opinion. However, it's not like he didn't desire to copy them in addition, just in case, but he didn't have the time now, as the fight between Orochimaru and Hiruzen could be over at any moment and he needed to catch Orochimaru. Not to mention that the chances of him getting found out would be bigger with every second he remained there.

Somewhere inside the big forest Neji, without a drop of blood on him, read the jutsu's description with a wide grin, 'Jackpot, this method is perfect for cultivating spiritual power just as I suspected!'

The technique was an S-rank class. And while the Eight Gates was the peak physical, this was the peak spiritual technique. It allows the user's spirit to leave their body. Versatile in application, this technique can be used in a variety of ways, depending on the user's intentions. By taking possession of a target, the spirit is able to suppress and collapse the victim's spirit, killing them. Should the user intend to, possessing a victim can instead enable the former to freely manipulate their actions.

This technique enables the user's consciousness to exit their physical form. Its adaptability makes it suitable for a wide range of purposes, depending on the user's objectives. By inhabiting a target, the user can subdue and extinguish the victim's essence, resulting in their demise. However, if the user wishes, they can commandeer the victim's body to manipulate their actions.

'It's time to meet that man Orochimaru, I feel like my freedom, at last, isn't far away!', Neji laughed once he ran back, preparing to ambush Orochimaru, and his team, while the man was weakened.

***

Once Konoha finally launched a counter-attack against the invading forces and turned the tide of the battle, solving all of the remaining invaders slowly and assessing the damage, no one noticed a shadow quietly leaving the village walls, chasing after the mastermind of this whole failed invasion.

Orochimaru was currently held by two of his Otogakure subordinates he brought along to erect the barrier preventing anyone from intervening while he assassinated Hiruzen, though the plan failed.

Kabuto also joined them after a while, successfully escaping with the Sunagakure's jonin Baki, from Kakashi and Might Guy, before they parted ways. Two more of Otogakure's ninja were also present.

They hastily jumped on tree branches of this dense forest, while running expeditiously right to their secret hideout base located somewhere in the Land of Sound. All of their expressions were solemn due to Orochimaru's present state, and no one dared to speak much, not even Kabuto. Orochimaru was strangely quiet during this time, thinking about everything, with a grim and angry expression.

'I truly didn't expect that old man to learn that seal. Not to mention humiliate me like that and die with a smile on his damn old face!', Orochimaru gritted his teeth. It didn't go in any way he planned it to go. Additionally, he didn't even manage to get Sasuke. His whole trip to Konoha was a failure.

Orochimaru was an orphan who became a pupil of Hiruzen Sarutobi alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade. Compared to the more laid-back Jiraiya, Orochimaru stood out as a genius, his talents, insight, and determination were considered by Hiruzen to be that of a prodigy seen only once in a generation. After losing his parents in a war Orochimaru found a white snake near his parents' grave, with Hiruzen's explanation of it representing fortune and rebirth inspiring Orochimaru to study kinjutsu and obtain knowledge of all techniques. Later, after even his young disciple Naoki, Tsunade's brother, died on a mission, having experienced the fragility of life, he now wanted immortality.

This led him to eventually start experimenting on various people, some being fellow Konoha shinobi he kidnapped. He used them as human guinea pigs to develop techniques that would grant him immortality, the end result being Living Corpse Reincarnation. He also worked with Hashirama Senju's DNA, experimenting on sixty children he kidnapped to recreate the First's Wood Release, having help from Danzo. Later, Hiruzen finally couldn't take it anymore and decided to exile him.

For most of his exile, he could just hide from the Konoha. However, after he found the Otogakure and started training disciples, he knew that his forces would eventually grow so large that he couldn't effectively hide from the Konoha anymore, and that the Konoha considered him so dangerous that they would eventually attack him. So, he attacked them first, at a time when he thought he was powerful enough to win, and before the Konoha were prepared to defend against him. He also needed a powerful vessel, for his technique, with Kekkei-Genkai, to last for a lifetime, not like the previous garbage vessels which could only last for three years at most. He needed preferably an actual living Uchiha with Sharingan, and the only surviving one like that was there.

The Living Corpse Reincarnation immortalizes one's mind, transferring it to a stronger body before the current host rots. It was developed in order to fuel his dream of acquiring all the knowledge in existence, a feat that cannot be achieved in a single lifetime. That was also his attempt at immortality.

He also held a great deal of hatred for Hiruzen and the entire Konohagakure because they didn't select him as the Hokage, instead of Minato, and then forced him into exile after he started performing more and more experiments on people out of anger. So, he had a desire for killing Hiruzen and destroying Konoha for a very long time. Not because of the Hokage's position itself, but because they rejected him. At that time he planned to use his position as the Hokage to learn many different forbidden techniques from there, though later he realized that those techniques were nothing much and that he would have just wasted his time there had he truly became the Hokage. But his thirst for revenge never went away and he finally acted on it, but ultimately failed.

He was also unusually bored during the past few years so he really wanted to get the windmill of life moving again. There was too much peace recently, in the Ninja World, and that annoyed him.

'But, how did it end up like this...?', Orochimaru sighed once he took a look at his now black arms. Though, he didn't get into depression just because he couldn't perform some jutsu. And not like there weren't already many fixes for it. It's just that the pain was a little uncomfortable, even for him.

Using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Hiruzen was able to seal away the portion of his soul that resided within his arms. His arms were now paralyzed, suffered necrosis, and he couldn't use most of his jutsu. He was left only with the techniques that he could use without the use of hand seals.

"Oh, this is certainly interesting. Let's stop and wait for our little friend...", Orochimaru licked his lips a little, his personality suddenly shifting back all of a sudden, returning to his usual confident one.