"Old man! I'm back!"
The window of the Hokage's office was kicked open from the outside, and a reeking, drunken Jiraiya stumbled through, tumbling onto the floor.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been sitting in his chair lost in thought over a mountain of paperwork, was startled by the sudden intrusion. He turned to see his student sprawled out, trying to scramble back to his feet. The hidden ANBU guards protecting the room remained perfectly still, though they pointedly averted their eyes to maintain a shred of their dignity.
"Ah, Jiraiya. You've returned at a good time," Hiruzen said, rotating his chair. He picked up his pipe and took two puffs, only to be hit by the overwhelming stench of sake radiating from the man.
Hiruzen's brows knit into a tight knot. "Where have you been all this time?"
In the 51st year of Konoha, following the end of the Third Shinobi World War, both Jiraiya and Tsunade had chosen to leave the village for their own reasons—one to wander and the other to train. Of the Sannin, only Orochimaru had remained, though he had been consumed by his experiments and had grown increasingly close to Danzo.
Even before his human experimentation was exposed, Orochimaru had effectively lost his eligibility to become the Fourth Hokage. He had chosen the wrong side; by aligning with Danzo, he had distanced himself politically from his teacher's faction. His defeat to Minato Namikaze had been written in the stars long before the election.
"Just picking up 'inspiration' in the Land of Hot Springs," Jiraiya muttered, scratching the back of his head as he stood up.
When the war with the Hidden Cloud broke out, Jiraiya hadn't taken the front lines, but he had patrolled the borders of the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Springs, ready to jump in should Hiruzen need him. Once the peace treaty was signed, he had finally made his way back.
"Speaking of which, I have something to tell you, Old Man," Jiraiya grumbled, helping himself to a cup of tea from the table. "The Great Toad Sage prophesied a disaster unlike any the Shinobi world has ever seen. The entire world will be shrouded in darkness!"
"I see. And so you're looking for the Child of Prophecy who will save us all, right?" Hiruzen replied. It wasn't the first time he'd heard about 'Shinobi disasters' or 'Prophecy Children' from Jiraiya. He was used to it.
For the Kage of a village, such prophecies often felt like they held hidden agendas. After all, the masters of the Three Great Sage Regions weren't human. To think they truly prioritized the future of humanity... Hmph, how likely was that?
"No! This time it's serious!" Jiraiya's face flushed as he argued. He rambled about a 'Dark Child of Destruction' and a 'cataclysm unseen in a thousand years.'
Hiruzen remained noncommittal, simply nodding as he slid a scroll across the desk toward his student.
"Orochimaru has defected."
The casual sentence left Jiraiya frozen. When the reality finally sunk in, he gasped, "Old Man! What kind of joke is that?! There's no way Orochimaru would—"
He cut himself off as his eyes fell upon the contents of the scroll. It contained the depositions of Konoha ninja who had survived being used as live test subjects. His hands trembled as he read the detailed reports of the rescue operation, the horrific materials found in the lab, and the chilling logs of the experiments.
Jiraiya fell into a heavy silence, the prophecy of the 'Dark Child' completely forgotten.
"I'm going to bring him back!" Jiraiya slammed the documents onto the desk and bolted back out through the window with furious momentum.
Hiruzen stood up, pipe in hand, and watched from the window as his student's blurred silhouette leaped across the rooftops. He let out a long, weary sigh.
Northern Land of Fire.
Deep within a dense forest, 'Kinoe'—the boy who would one day be known as Yamato—arrived at the designated meeting point on Danzo's orders. He stopped before the largest tree in the area and approached its massive roots. Finding a seemingly bottomless hollow, he stepped inside.
The hollow led to a long, man-made tunnel illuminated by oil lamps hanging from the walls.
Step... step...
At the end of the tunnel, the space opened into a vast underground cavern, supported by a labyrinth of massive, intertwining tree roots. Rows of lamps flickered on the walls, marking what appeared to be a gathering place or a ceremonial altar.
As Kinoe surveyed his surroundings, a thick mist began to swirl through the cavern, blurring his vision. He immediately sensed a dangerous, unnatural aura within the smoke.
"Who are you? How do you know of this place?" a muffled voice echoed from the mist.
"I am a subordinate of Lord Danzo!" Kinoe declared, stating his purpose. "I have come regarding the matter of Lord Orochimaru!"
A clump of mist coalesced into a humanoid shape and drifted around Kinoe, circling him. Other patches of smoke followed suit, forming ghostly silhouettes that surrounded the masked boy. A faint, reddish mist circled him several times with particular interest.
"This is a letter from Lord Danzo," Kinoe said, pulling a scroll from his gear and handing it to the tallest silhouette.
The figure inspected the scroll and muttered, "It is indeed Lord Danzo's seal."
He then deactivated his smoke form, transforming into a tall, plainly dressed man with a thin mustache. The surrounding mists followed suit, turning back into men and women dressed in simple tunics.
An ability I've never heard of. Is it a Kekkei Genkai? Kinoe stared in shock at the twenty-odd figures.
"Tenzō! Is it really you?!" A young girl's joyful cry caused Kinoe's stoic emotions to flicker.
He turned to see the reddish mist had transformed into a girl about his age. She had curly hair, a face full of freckles, and large, shimmering eyes that searched his face with hope.
"Yukimi, he is not Tenzō," Gotta, the leader of the Iburi clan, said with a shake of his head. He handed the letter back to Kinoe. "Tell us the situation. For Lord Orochimaru's sake, the Iburi clan will do whatever is necessary."
"Consider it repayment for the life Lord Orochimaru gave us," Gotta added, drawing nods of agreement from the clansmen. If not for Orochimaru's Curse Mark, their clan would have likely vanished long ago.
"Oh? Is that so?" A mocking voice drifted from the tunnel entrance.
"Who's there!" Kinoe spun around, drawing a kunai. He hadn't sensed anyone following him!
From the darkness of the tunnel, a mysterious figure emerged. He wore a white, three-eyed fox mask and a long robe with a fur collar.
"How pathetic..." Menma Uzumaki sighed from behind his mask, his voice filled with a cold, tragic pity as he looked at the gathered survivors. "A clan used as lab rats by Orochimaru... a clan on the very brink of extinction."