"Project: Ascendance"

It hasn't even been a day till Kisame had had an unfortunate encounter with me, and I needed to take care of a few loose ends on my part, so I made my way to Orochimaru, a pre-set meeting we had organized earlier today, in the understanding that Kisame was going to be taken care of beforehand and Samehada would be as critical and useful as theorized.

I landed in an open field, Orochimaru waiting on a tree a few meters in front of me. As soon as he saw me, he strolled forward, heading next to me.

I was still in my armored form, scales forming in my hand as I brought it down on Orochimaru's shoulder. I felt a large amount of chakra flood my body, matching my expectations.

"How much chakra was taken away?"

"Nearly all, I cant perform any techniques right now."

For merely grazing the body, this was a pretty good result. Naturally, I didn't intend to kill him, or I would have extended the scales.

"That is sufficient, even better than we thought actually. I will need you to start Phase One experimentations as soon as possible. We need to utilize this to the maximum and gain positive results in the coming months. It will make all resistance futile, solidify my victory. The shinobi's reliability on their greatest tool will become their downfall."

As I said that I turned to see Orochimaru with the widest and sickest grin I had seen so far on his face.

"Kukukuku… Hahahahaha… Others dream and chase after the power of 'The Sage of The Six Paths' while we are … Kukuku."

"Nothing is unsurmountable, this creation will become obsolete if we give them enough time, they will find a way around it, but that is also why I am preparing all this. It will hit fast, it will hit hard and it will not budge if hit back. By the time they start thinking of a way to counter-attack, they will all be dead." – I said as I leaned on a tree, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

"With all due respect that I have for you, for even thinking of something like this, I cannot see a way for them to overcome this. Sealing requires chakra to be activated, and the sheer amount of chakra something like this will absorb every second is so absurd that I estimate no one close enough will be able to excel any himself. In the case that someone powerful enough does excel chakra, it will not activate anything but be directly absorbed. That being said it will have a weakness... though it also happens to be its strongest point."

"Indeed…"

"It will have to be done through sheer power." – Something that I couldn't see happening but was preparing for.

"Well, that is enough about that, now that Phase Zero has reached completion, I will need you to put some in Sasuke's food. He will be leaving anytime now and head straight for you."

As I finished talking, Orochimaru looked at me with curiosity.

"You have been cultivating him and his emotions for quite a while, do you believe he will learn the truth?"

"Nothing is set in stone, there are variables we cannot account for, traces of my existence are around Konoha, but thankfully covered by the Nine-Tails attack. Sasuke was a kid starved for attention and I needed the political power to keep myself autonomous enough so that they couldn't officially get their claws on me. Itachi was onto it until I dissuaded him from that chain of thinking. Sasuke might see it if the veil I have put over his head is raised. It is a thick veil of memories and emotions, but once it is lifted it will allow him to see the truth, that he was nothing but a tool to exploit."

"If that is so, why don't you let me try and create a clone of her? Changing the DNA will be a little tricky but not impossible, I am positive about creating a sibling that has the Uchiha bloodline. From that point on it should be rather easy for you to guide her or him through awakening the Mangekyou. It might be cutting it close, but I believe I might be able to fully grow one old enough with the knowledge I have gained from studying your cells. A backup plan, should you fail to obtain Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan."

"As good as that sounds, we don't have the time to waste just for the eternal Mangekyou. I much rather would appreciate your full attention to the current project. We have a maximum of 2 years until the project needs to be ready for launch. As long as we are ready then, nothing that changes afterward will make a big impact on the overall result. I will win this war before it even starts."

"I will play my part until the end, hopefully seeing the project come to fruition."

"For safety reasons, I believe you are conducting the experiments in person and secrecy."

"Of course, nobody else can enter without my authorization."

"Not even Kabuto?"

"He has worked for me long enough, he's skilled. That being said I don't believe he has the ability to enter. But I have seen him lingering near areas he had no business in lately. I was planning of disposing of him myself before it is too late."

"…It should be about time that the cooldown ends, bring him to me as soon as you can. He might have noticed your 'change'. I won't have this project put in jeopardy because of him. Something tells me that he will soon find himself in a very cooperative mood."

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(Kabuto POV)

Orochimaru-sama had changed, he used to yearn for immortality, for every Jutsu in this world, but suddenly that became as useless as trash in front of him. Something had affected him, and I feared it was some ability of the Mangekyou. This all started after meeting Kei Uchiha a few times. People do change, but not like this and not this fast without someone having a hand in it.

My best guess was that it was a sort of subtle mind-altering, something that didn't require eye contact, as Orochimaru-sama would have avoided eye contact after what happened with Itachi.

A part of the answer is sought must be behind the new room in the hideout. I could break-in, my skills have improved quite a lot over time, but doing so would alert Orochimaru-sama.

Today he was meeting a contact outside, so it was my best chance to make a move, and so I did.

Moving inside, I could see different equipment, medical records stacked on top of each other.

I looked through the files and noticed something rather important. These are all civilians, nothing stands out about any of them, no bloodline, no skills in particular, no heritage to speak of. Turning my head towards the wall I saw a giant map of the elemental nations. Cities were marked, very few with red, and almost all the others in white. As I cross-referenced the places with the medical records I noticed that every person experimented on was from one of these territories.

If you won't take something out, you will definitely put something in. Whatever these people went through, they were given something and returned to major cities. It had to be some kind of disease, something with a very high rate of infectivity as there were only one or two individuals from each city here.

Looking through some more folders, I found one hidden inside a compartment in the desk. On the top, I could read something in red letters.

"Project: Ascendance."

'Feasibility of this project has been determined. Phase Zero was seen through, allowing the separation of autonomous cells without allowing them to gain intelligence while putting them in an inactive state. Remote commands have been successful so far, triggering the activations of the cells and allowing for simple commands but only from the master. This loss in intelligence has allowed us to keep the basic abilities of the virus as well as any abilities gained beforehand. Using the host and nearby sources as food will allow the virus to replicate itself and spread at a very high rate. The infectivity rate was deemed as suitable. Being able to spread through the air, water, and physical contact, one individual can infect an entire city as long as the cells are activated. The transformation resulting from these infections has proved too dangerous for experiments to be conducted without the presence of the master. With a simple command, the virus will turn the bodies into biomass, allowing for them to merge together, gaining tremendous regenerative, physical as well as chakra-related abilities. It also makes the mass of biomass much more receptive to complicated commands.'

My eyes widened as I continued reading, not noticing an incoming hit, as I was a bit in my neck.

"Kukuku, you should have been happy with what you knew. But as your master I'm proud, to be able to break into this lab, your skills have certainly grown." – Orochimaru said as he looked at his apprentice.

Looking around, he noticed the numerous pieces of evidence laying around.

"I should burn this place down too, it has served its purpose. but sadly for you… your role is about to begin." – he said as he picked up Kabuto.