Chapter: 54

That seems… like a bad idea," The Shade of Orochimaru in my mind mused, a frown on his face as I tried to get him to tell me if what Kabuto had told me after his second stay in my personally created Void was true. This had been Hiruzen's idea, although I was sure half the reason I was sent to do this was so that I would go away and he could hold his meeting with Mei and Onoki.

"I know right?" I nodded, with a scowl of my own.

It wasn't that Kabuto had said something that I didn't know. It was that he had said exactly what I knew. Now, many would think that was fine, that it was good even, but they would be wrong. Kabuto hadn't babbled all the details, but that was only because he didn't know all the details. Orochimaru was many things, one of which was a paranoid bastard, that was for sure.

Still, the spy, now reduced to a babbling mess in a cell somewhere probably still recovering from his experience, had, as stated, told us all about the things I already knew about the Crush. That was all sorts of wrong, mainly because canon had long since flown out the window and this wasn't me expecting butterflies to appear at every corner. No, this was me knowing there would be a butterfly somewhere in the Invasion. After all, the Mist and the Stone were in Konoha now. If that didn't merit a slight change in Orochimaru's plans, I didn't know what would.

There had to be an addition somewhere, something that would go differently. The plan that I knew had only worked because Orochimaru had impersonated the Kazekage, which was the only Kage other than Hiruzen to be present. Now, however, there were two others there.

The Snake Bastard couldn't be so sure that Onoki would side with him, could he? Was the Tsuchikage already on his side?

I hated that I didn't know the answer to either question.

That was why I was slightly relieved that the Shade agreed that it wasn't an ideal plan. I fed the thing as much information about the situation as I could. Yes, even my foreknowledge, although I hadn't told him where I had gotten that information from. I wasn't pulling any punches with this shit.

'Speaking of which,' I thought, my eyes narrowing in the Shade's direction. He must have sensed my gaze or something of the sort, because he instantly grew tense. 'He could try to tell on me with Inoichi during the check ups, if only just to screw me over, since I'm opposing his real self or whatever...' I considered for a moment, my mind running through options.

I could just tell the higher ups that I had to throw him back in the Void after I was done bouncing ideas off of him. They would easily believe me if I said that the thing had tried to mess with me in some way, it was a very Orochimaru thing to do, after all. However, I didn't want to lose such a useful tool. After all, it was like having two minds to think with and everyone knows what they say about two heads…

Still, the problem remained.

'I could place a trigger on him, send him straight to the Void if he tries to speak of this...' I theorized. 'But that would be too obvious. Inoichi would suspect something… even if only a bit… I don't think they would believe it if I said it was a trigger for him doing something bad. He wouldn't dare do that with Inoichi in the Mindscape…'

'No, I need something that would make it seem like nothing happened. To silence him without anyone knowing...' I mused, the gears in my mind turning.

"Have I displeased you in any way?" The Shade asked, unaware of the thoughts that I was going through but obviously picking up that I was less than pleased with him, not that he had given me a reason. But just going by who he was… or who he was a shard of, at least, I distrusted everything he did and said. "Because I swear that what we've discussed regarding this invasion is the truth," He voiced adamantly, and I believed him. If there was anyone that knew the true horror of the Void besides me it was him, with Kabuto running for third place.

It didn't make me trust that he would behave.

I could have not told him my extra knowledge, I knew. However, the last thing I wanted to happen was for Konoha to suffer because I hadn't wanted to risk it. There was too much at risk for me to not use everything that I had to my advantage.

'So,' I continued my planning while also ignoring the Shade's nervous words. 'I need to silence him and make him disappear, but without Inoichi being able to pick up on that… which is the hard part, obviously. It's not like I can replace him with a… clone...' I thought, frowning as an idea formed in my mind. 'It can't be that simple, can it?' I wondered.

I stood up as the idea grew and grew. It was very simple and yet, I had never, in the years that I had had with the Mindscape at my disposition, thought to do that. Which was understandable, since I had barely touched it after unlocking it, occasionally half-heartedly working on it, until Orochimaru came around.

My brow furrowed as I focused my mind on one simple task. Creating a copy of Orochimaru's Shade. One that Iwould control. The tricky part was that I had never created something that had life. I had made moving things, stuff that was triggered by some action or another. But I had never tried to create an animal, much less a person.

'And yet… why shouldn't I be able to?' I thought, determination filling me. After all, I had recreated the Void in the real world. Why couldn't I create a semblance of life in my own mind. Emphasis on semblance though, since I wasn't crazy enough to think that I could actually create life… although crazier things had happened in the Naruto world, I would still steer clear of that one.

Slowly, the shape of the Shade formed inside the white room. I heard, from my side, said Shade making a strange sound between a groan and an exclamation. I ignored him again as I tried to give the thing as much detail as I could, occasionally turning towards the 'original' one to check that I was making them look exactly the same.

"You are not trying to do what I think you are, right?" The Shade asked, making my eyebrow twitch. "Because if so-"

"Shut up."

I grinned. That hadn't come from me. It hadn't even been my voice. No, it was Orochimaru's, coming right from my recently created Fake Shade… The number of fake Orochimaru were growing disturbingly quick. That had been done surprisingly easily too, but that was because I gave the Fake Shade…

"I'll call you, Hachi," I named my creation, mainly to avoid confusing, headache-inducing thoughts. I also made him nod after my speech, but I was basically micromanaging everything Hachi did for now. The interruption of the Shade had been done with a simple trigger of saying 'Shut up' whenever the Shade said anything.

I would have to put a lot more triggers on it so that it would behave like the actual thing. I didn't have confidence in acting as two people with someone like Inoichi. I could already foresee lots of nights working on these before my next check up with the Yamanaka head. 'Ugh, and I still have to work on those Elemental Jutsu… fuck it all.'

"You sure creating another me is a good idea, Eiji?" The Shade asked me with a raised eyebrow, visibly skeptical.

"The fact that you are arguing about this almost makes me think it is, Shade, my buddy," I told him with a grin that Hachi mirrored at my command. His, however, I made much more unsettling, just like the real Orochimaru's. "Besides, this one will be under my control," I added.

"And that's why it'll be more dangerous. Because you think it'll be under your control," Shade pointed out, making me pause. He did have a point there. There was a reason why people feared AIs… And what I was trying to do was basically to create an Orochimaru AI inside my own mind. 'That does sound extremely dangerous...'

'Or it would be, if this place wasn't completely under my control,' I reassured myself. I could place as many restraints in Hachi as I wanted. He would be unable to do anything other than what I wanted him to do. And if he tried anything funny? He would vanish, as if he had never been there. 'And that's it.'

'How to get it to act like a real person though…?' I mused, pushing aside my resolved thoughts on artificial intelligence. 'How I miss the copy and pas… te…' My head turned slightly towards the Shade, who was eyeing Hachi almost fearfully.

I had found during all that time that I couldn't really affect the Shade in any way. I could attack him externally with my infinite powers over my Mindscape, but I couldn't attack his being. I couldn't control his presence, or mind, or whatever it was called like I could everything else in my mind. 'But… maybe I can copy it?'

I concentrated once more and decided to pull off something that Inoichi would probably classify as impossible. Of all the strange things that I could do that made people call me a genius, my powers inside my Mindscape were the only ones that didn't have a level attached to them. All my fighting prowess could be explained with skills in the system. This, however, was something that was all me, unless the Inner Strength Perk or the Meditation Skill had an effect on it and didn't tell me. So, that was, maybe, why I was so confident when it involved doing stuff in the Mindscape.

A smirk grew on my face when I saw Hachi's eyes move on their own. Then his neck gave an awkward twitch. And, finally, he came to life completely, with a smooth movement that anybody could do, he turned to look at Shade, regarding his doppelganger thoughtfully. Then, he turned to me and he smiled. It wasn't a sadic smile though, nor a malicious one or anything that I would have ever associated with Orochimaru. It was actually a kind smile, which was just plain weird in that face.

'Well, can't say that my tampering isn't showing,' I thought, with a quickly widening smirk. It seemed that despite how impervious to my control the Shade was, I could still copy it with but a thought. After throwing that consciousness inside Hachi, I had quickly set out to place all the restrictions I could think of.

After that, I started adding even more stuff. Hachi would be loyal to me and only me. He would always have my best interest in mine, mine and of those I cared about. I was careful though, to add that he couldn't do anything without me knowing and allowing it, just in case he decided that my best interest was something that I didn'twant to happen. I also made him unable to do anything manipulative regarding me or anyone I cared about. He would be the definition of straightforward with me. There would be no lies, no half-truths of any kind.

That was just the start though. I had placed any and all rules that I could think of to cover my back. I also placed triggers all over him that if he tried to break any of the rules I set, he would be deactivated, for lack of a better word.

"Creator," Hachi said and I shared a smirk with him.

"Hachi, pleasure to meet you," I greeted him with a wave. "You know your job?"

"Act the part in case the Shade ever decides to compromise any of the secrets you've shared with him," He said automatically, giving his original a grin that was much more suited to Orochimaru's face. "And he isn't nervous that you are actually making a bad decision. I'm reasonably sure that he is just afraid I'll make him useless to you and you'll throw him back into the Void," He informed me and it was my turn to face the Shade with a grin.

"Don't you worry, Shade. I'll still have use for you here. After all, you have a mind untampered by me. Hachi wouldn't be as accurate if I'm trying to predict Orochimaru's moves," I told him and I was being truthful. Although, even he wasn't as accurate as I would have liked. I was very sure that the Void had changed him in some way, but it was as close as I would get, I guessed.

With a thought, I added another chair to the room.

"Now, my friends and pseudo-council. We still have to think what the real Orochimaru is trying to pull off here," I said, as I took my seat again. I decided to add Hachi to the little circle (triangle?). Three heads would be better than two, I was sure.

I would have to keep an eye on him though, just in case.

[}-o-{]

A week passed since my interrogation of Kabuto and nobody was telling me anything. Although, if I was being fair, I didn't want them to tell me anything. I had done my part and they knew almost as much as I did now. There was very little I could do regarding the Crush that they couldn't and I had no delusions that they knew better than I what to do in such a situation.

I might have studied and worked with similar stuff with Danzo's assignments, but they had years upon years of experience to work with. Moreover, my analysis session with Hachi and Shade was so unproductive, paired with the stressful month and a half that I had had, that I really didn't want to continue beating my head against that particular wall. I would leave that to Hiruzen, Mei and Onoki.

Instead, I focused on my own training, which was no less important, in my opinion. After so much study and research done for the Void Genjutsu to come to life, doing normal training and going back to my Elemental Jutsu creation project had been like a breath of fresh air. Even my conditioning to use the Cursed Seal was nice to do, now that I had already gotten somewhat used to it and I didn't need to force my brain to work through that.

I had been very, very wrong to think that the physical training after using the Mark would be worse than studying while using it. It sucked, yes, my muscles always felt stiff and my body reacted slower, but it was much better than trying to have a decent amount of brain power while my blood felt like it was boiling. Powering through the Mark to spar or throw jutsu around was like a walk in the park in comparison.

There was another nice side effect of coming back from creating Mortal Reminder and Wit's End though…

"This is almost easy," I mused as I worked through some things in my notebook. It was during a break in my training, after doing Mark conditioning and Jutsu practice and before sparring with Cat and Anko. Rolling my eyes at one of my past self's decisions, I scratched a bit of text and corrected it.

"Kid, do you know how many R&D people would pull their hair out hearing you say that about creating a Jutsu?" Anko asked, raising her eyebrows at me even as her lips curved up in an amused grin. "I'm pretty sure there are already a few over there cursing your name because you don't want to share your… What did you call them? Void Genjutsu?"

"I'm never sharing those and nobody can make me," I confirmed vehemently. I would never give such a thing to anybody, because I was sure that it would find its way into the hands of someone that would use it in a way that I didn't agree with. The Void was something that was better left alone, I used it because I needed it, and as someone that had experienced it, I had the proper respect for the thing.

I would be forever grateful to Hiruzen for saying that they were my property and I could share them with whoever I wanted. The only condition he had put on me was to use them if another case such as Kabuto's presented itself and Konoha needed to use it again. I was fine with that, I just didn't want any random Ninja to get access to it and since even the Scroll of Secrets wasn't secure enough, as evidenced by canon Naruto, that meant that I wouldn't share it with anybody.

"Anyway," Anko mumbled, rolling her eyes at me. The stubborn woman still wanted me to cast Mortal Reminder on her, but, at least, she wasn't crazy enough to ask for Wit's End. The first at least could be dispelled, which was the only difference between them, but boy was it a big one.

I was almost glad that the thing wouldn't level up, since I refused to use it on any of my allies and didn't have anyone around that I hated enough to cast it on them.

[Yin Release: Wit's End – Lvl 4

S-rank technique with which the user negates all the senses of their target. The Jutsu cannot be dispelled for as long as the user supplies chakra to it.

Hand Seals – 17

Consumption – 64 Chakra Points per second.

+Creator Bonus:

? ?.]

It was both a great and a terrifying technique, even with that cost. I could cast the thing for roughly 14 seconds normally, something that was extended to over a minute if I used the Cursed Mark, since that one had a lower Consumption per second. Kabuto, a ninja trained to resist tortures like few were, had broken in just over 5 seconds of the thing, only needing a little push after that. I had gone way overboard using the Mark in his interrogation.

I was, admittedly, a little scared of my own technique, and I didn't even have to fear anyone using it on me, unless an Uchiha saw me… 'Note that down, don't use either of them when there's a chance an Uchiha will be around… Or Danzo. God, I hope the bastard didn't somehow get a peek at me using the technique with his stolen Sharingan. I had almost forgotten about that...'

I sighed, leaning back against the tree and looking up at the sky. 'I'm tired,' I thought, closing the notebook and putting it aside. Nice as it was to finally be done with the Genjutsu, I still hadn't had more than a few hours at a time to rest. And rest was something that I desperately needed after so much work.

"Eiji?" I heard Shirakumo call me from the side. Soon, her voice was followed by the feeling of her legs climbing my arm. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah… I'm just tired. I'll take a moment to relax, I think," I told her, closing my eyes and taking comfort in her touch. Something very weird, since she was a spider. However, she was a friend, and I knew that. She settled on my shoulder since I was leaning my head against the tree.

"Hmph, I told you not to overwork yourself," She chastised without much heat in her voice. "It's not even that good a technique, the one you are working on," She voiced and my lips twitched. None of the Spider Clan were overly fond of my idea, which was kind of understandable, but also amusing.

"I've already told you. I designed the thing before signing your contract," I replied not for the first time, internally rolling my eyes. "Besides, it'll be really cool."

"But why can't it be a spider?" She whined petulantly. "We are so much cooler, we have more legs, and more eyes, and we have poison and silk too! They are just… ugh."

I chuckled lightly at that.

"They have their own good traits, you know. But yeah, spiders are awesome too," I admitted easily. It was the truth anyway, I had always found spiders to be kind of cool too.

"Of course we are, idiot." I could almost feel her preening at the praise, blatantly focusing on the second part of my statement. "Eiji," She called out, sounding much more serious, almost reminding me of her mother, actually. "I want to continue training with Genjutsu," She told me.

Instead of answering, I cast Intermediate Mirage on her with my eyes closed. After all, I was touching her. I didn't need to see her. Any other moment I would have used Advanced or Greater Mirage, to grind them a bit. However, this was a moment of rest, I had decided, and I didn't feel like opening my eyes and going through hand seals. If at all possible, I wanted to continue just doing nothing for a bit longer.

"Why did you have to make it like that?" Shirakumo whined but I felt her tensing up, as she always did when she tried to dispel a Genjutsu. It was her weak point, apparently, and she struggled a lot with the Illusion Arts, both to use them and to counter them.

I still found it strange how the Spider Clan went about using Jutsu. After all, they didn't have hands like normal humans. And they couldn't use their legs as pseudo-hands like I had noted in my canon knowledge notebooks about the Toads. Instead, it was like they went straight to the sealess use of the techniques, which sounded unfair, but it was countered by the fact that they had a much harder time getting started.

"Done..." Shirakumo informed me, and her whole body lowered as her legs relaxed.

"Again?" I asked softly and waited for a second. "I'll take that as a no."

"No! Wait, I can do one more," She said stubbornly. She was determined, I had to give her that.

"You have a hard time with it. It's ok. You'll get there eventually," I reassured her before a grin spread over my face. "I don't feel like it anyway. I'm resting right now, remember?"

"Idiot," Was what she said. Her body, on the other hand, told me a completely different thing as she relaxed even more, basically lying on my shoulder. Even her voice came out tired and soft.

"Break's over, Eiji. Cat is here," Anko told me, sounding supremely amused at her interrupting my relaxation time. I felt my eyebrow twitch.

"If this is you messing me, Anko, I swear-"

"She's not. I'm indeed here to train you, Eiji-kun," Cat interrupted me and I felt my eyebrow twitch again.

"You are five minutes early," I pointed out, annoyance starting to show in my voice.

"How can you even-" Anko started, cut off by Cat explaining herself.

"I finished an assignment ahead of time and I thought I could-"

"You know what, fine," I stood up, opening my eyes. "Shirakumo," I said, looking at both my sensei and my ANBU Kenjutsu teacher. The small white spider replied with a curious 'yes?' as a smirk started growing on my face. "How would you like some training with your poison techniques?"

"It would be nice, those are my favorites!" She exclaimed, for once not acting like a tsundere. She liked her poison jutsu so much that she didn't even sound tired anymore.

"Eiji?" Both Anko and Cat asked, suddenly much less amused or, at least, the former wasn't.

"How about a two on two, huh? Sensei?" I asked sweetly.

"I mean, it sounds like a good idea. But why are you so-"

"I think I should train without my seals for once too," I continued, cracking my neck. "You know, so that I don't get too used to them and all that."

"Eiji…?" Suddenly, she seemed to realize where I was going. "I think you can continue your break for a few more minutes. Yeah, Cat and I will just go over there to chat for a..."

"No. It's alright, sensei. I insist," I unlatched Nuibari from my back.

"Oh, fuck..."