When he opened his eyes again, Ren Uchiha saw a familiar ceiling.
Though the sight was familiar, his head felt as if two bricks had been wedged inside it. His thoughts moved at a snail's pace, accompanied by a piercing pain that made him want to gouge his eyes out.
For a moment, he couldn't even remember where he was.
Then, a familiar, pale, and handsome face leaned into view. The man had purple eye markings and golden slit pupils; translucent green jade earrings hung from his lobes. He watched Ren with an expression of cold indifference, saying nothing.
"Orochimaru... Sensei?" Ren asked hesitantly. "I'm... hiss!"
The moment he spoke, a searing agony erupted from his eye sockets. Ren curled into a fetal position on the hospital bed, clutching his face and letting out a ragged scream.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
The pain was catastrophic—like having iron spikes driven under his toenails and then being forced to kick a wall. It was a soul-crushing torment that made him want to rip out his own eyes and tear open his stomach just to excise the source of this agonizing mutation.
It was then that Ren realized his wrists were bound by specialized sealing bracers. The 'Chakra Scalpels' embedded within the bracers precisely severed the nerves in his hands every time he tried to move, rendering his impulsive thrashing useless.
Standing by the bed, Orochimaru frowned. He pulled out a scroll and began recording with a brush, his voice a raspy murmur.
"08:12 AM."
"No signs of dragonification. Subject did not attempt to bite upon awakening."
"Rejection reaction has reappeared, but the intensity has lessened."
"The Four Symbols Seal on the ocular region is effective. The internal Eight Trigrams Seal has not leaked violent Tailed Beast chakra due to the agitation."
"This growth phase following the infusion of Hashirama cells into the Zero-Tails..."
"It seems he still needs time to adapt."
Having finished his notes, Orochimaru sensed a presence behind him. He turned his head slightly toward a blonde woman wearing a green robe with the kanji for "Gamble" on the back.
"Tsunade," Orochimaru asked hoarsely, "how is the progress on the Mind-Awakening Pill?"
His voice carried the exhaustion of one who hadn't slept in three days. Tsunade, too, looked weary. Standing beside him, she looked down at the screaming boy on the bed, exhaled deeply, and spoke with a heavy tone.
"Orochimaru... I can't believe you went this far for a child. I've heard everything from Jiraiya. You can hide it from the others, but not from me!"
"Why didn't you say anything sooner? Do you think we, as your teammates, would just stand by and watch your disciple suffer? This boy isn't some power-hungry lunatic, and you aren't..."
Orochimaru's gaze turned icy and detached. "That doesn't matter. Since you agreed to the trade... fulfill it."
"You develop the Mind-Awakening Pill for me, and I help you resurrect Nawaki and Dan Kato."
Tsunade shook her head and sighed. She pulled a small purple vial from her robes and tossed it to him.
When she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru had arrived at the Forest of Death with the Third Hokage, they had found a gruesome scene: Ren Uchiha with both arms blown off, Minato Namikaze with a gaping hole through his abdomen, and Kushina Uzumaki cloaked in a four-tailed shroud.
In the final moments, the three had defeated the Nine-Tails in the mental realm, seizing a portion of chakra that Kushina could use freely, unlocking a new Jinchūriki mode. It was only because Kushina used that chakra to stabilize them that the two boys had survived their near-fatal injuries.
They were whisked away for treatment, but what nearly caused Orochimaru to break—much like Tsunade had when she lost her loved ones—was the discovery that Ren had touched the very "dead-line" of his own life force to achieve that victory.
If they hadn't arrived exactly when they did, Ren would be dead.
Tsunade had never seen Orochimaru look the way he did then—maintaining a mask of cold indifference while frantically cleaning up the mess, then arguing before the High Council for Ren's deployment to the front lines.
He had said things like: 'His time is short, and we have a perfect recovery mechanism in place,' and 'Better he gives his last strength for Konoha than withers away in a hospital bed.' He even pointed out, 'As you saw, Ren Uchiha possesses power exceeding the Nine-Tails, even if it cost him his life.'
Orochimaru's cold logic regarding the war's necessity and the strategic deployment of personnel eventually silenced even the Nara clan strategists and forced the Third Hokage to agree. But Tsunade could feel what was hidden beneath that cold exterior: a desperate, borderline insane obsession with saving his disciple at any cost.
That was why Orochimaru had come to her with a deal she couldn't refuse.
Orochimaru opened the vial and poured out a black, pungent pill. He flicked his wrist, and several large snakes shot out from his sleeves, pinning Ren to the bed. He forced the boy's jaw open and made him swallow the Mind-Awakening Pill.
Soon, Ren's eyelids grew heavy, and he drifted into a deep sleep.
The Mind-Awakening Pill was a drug Orochimaru wasn't supposed to develop until Sasuke's youth—a key medicine to help Curse Mark users overcome side effects and transition from Stage One to Stage Two. Because it required profound medical and pharmacological expertise that Orochimaru currently lacked, he had turned to Tsunade.
Thus, the drug appeared in the shinobi world over a decade early.
"Orochimaru, I must warn you," Tsunade said quietly as she watched Ren sleep. "Given the Sage power residing in this brat, even the Mind-Awakening Pill won't fully suppress the side effects."
Orochimaru didn't look back. He placed a hand over the Cursed Seal of Heaven, checking Ren's condition. He knew. This pure Sage Mode from Ryūchi Cave was not easily mastered. Even a weakened version via the Curse Mark became more dangerous the closer one got to the "Dragon."
His current technology wasn't enough to fully analyze this power. However...
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and looked at Tsunade. "Tsunade, don't you think this mode is very similar to the relationship between a Tailed Beast and a Jinchūriki? Is it possible for him to master this Sage power the same way one masters a Perfect Jinchūriki mode?"
Tsunade frowned, thinking it over before nodding. "Yes... but to train for a Perfect Jinchūriki mode, one needs..."
Orochimaru stood up and lightly licked his lips. He stood in the Konoha hospital, looking out the window toward the north—toward the Land of Lightning beyond the Hell Valley.
A glint of greed flashed in his golden snake pupils. He let out a cold laugh.
"What he needs is Turtle Island in the Land of Lightning!"
"On that island is a strange place called the 'Falls of Truth,' where one can see the truth of their own heart!"
Tsunade looked at him in shock. "What... what are you planning to do?"
Orochimaru smiled thinly. In his mind, the map of the shinobi world unfolded, his gaze locking onto the Hell Valley. Just as the Cloud could cross through the Land of Hot Water to reach Konoha's heart, Konoha could cross the plains of the Land of Frost and march straight to the gates of the Hidden Cloud!
He licked his lips again, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"That place... belongs to me now."
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