ᗰOᑎᔕTEᖇ [🧡 ᑎᗩᖇᑌᕼIᑎᗩ 💜] [Ɱҽէąʍօɾքհօʂìʂ] Bσσƙ Oɳҽ

Preparing For Tomorrow

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Preparing For Tomorrow

July 5th, 2010

"Legendary Sannin, Soulless Scientist, former rogue of Konoha, Orochimaru."

He rolled to a stop, staring at the man bent over a slightly rusted surgical table, his arms flexing as he tinkered inside the open ribcage of a creature reminiscent to the early days of the Jubokko experiments. The serpent's lab was dimly lit and coasted, boasting strange organisms and organs bobbing inside glass jars, tools that looked more appropriate for torture than study, and shelves upon shelves of books, tomes and scrolls, so dense it was a wonder the shelves had not yet fallen, lined the walls.

"My my, its been quite a while since I've entertained guests. You know who I a,, but I cannot say I am familiar with you. It's common courtesy to introduce yourself before entering one's...home. I cannot in good faith offer hospitality to a stranger."

"Of course, where are my manners? Takahiro Akechi," he mockingly introduced, "but then, you already knew that."

"Ahh, Kabuto's little brother, ne?" the snake in human skin turned from his table, fixing his slitted pupil to the man in the wheelchair, a low rumble of amusement left his throat, "you are so much like him, calculating, resourceful enough to reach my lair, so much like him. Had it not been for that foster brother of yours, both of you would have been groomed at my hand. Though you both grew up in different homes, you've both developed much the same, such is the connection between twins."

The way he spoke, with such certainty and relish, Takahiro was sure he'd drawn that conclusion through some horrible experimentation.

"You have something that belongs to my clan."

"From what I gather, it belongs to the one you serve. Your clan were but caretakers."

True enough, Shigeru-sama had made that abundantly clear. Orochimaru straightened, finally turning to meet him face to face. Takahiro knew a lot about the man before him, his reputation was one that was reviled, feared, and yet, having lived under the thumb of Toriyama, having witness the ungodly horror that was Toju-sama, this monster in human skin was nothing.

"Perhaps we can be of use to one another."

"Before the war, such an offer held value, now, it is nothing more than empty words," Kabuto's twin dismissed, "give me tablet."

The snake smiled, golden eyes assessing and amused, "how foolish to dismiss an exchange of knowledge without considering its contents."

"You have nothing I want or need other than my clan's legacy."

"You wear his face, share his mannerisms, move in ways Kabuto himself has and would, and yet there are distinct differences. I wonder if it is a matter of nurture or nature that created such a glaring flaw lives in one twin and not the other."

"You have the other half, where is it?"

"Fodder no more, do you know the true origins of those words?"

Of course he did.

"A mantra developed by the branch family of the Otsutsuki after eons of subjugation. What of it?"

Orochimaru's thin lips curled, amusement twinkling in his sharp eyes, "is that what they told you?"

Takahiro frowned. His mouth opened, a question on his tongue, a body dropped beside his chair, stopping his inquiry.

Qyt'si was done hunting.

The man, Yamato, lay bloodied and still. His alien companion reached for her prey, hefted his near lifeless body to its knees, whipped a kunai from her pouch and let it rest nonchalantly at his pulse.