The next few weeks, Orochimaru spent a lot of time with Takumi to help him awaken his Quirk. All that was needed was a seal, a lot of chakra pills and patience. All Orochimaru did was stimulate and expand his chakra reserves until they erupted on their own. Similarly, awakening a Quirk also worked, so it was quite possible that Takumi was about to develop the stronger version of his Quirk. However, one could not proceed too quickly here, or permanent damage could result. That's why Takumi had regular check-ups with the Sannin.
Orochimaru had to positively state that everything was developing at a steady pace and Takumi had also happily reported to him that he could feel something changing inside him. The boy had been quite critical at the beginning, but in the meantime he trusted Orochimaru completely. That Sora, a walking sunshine, was also there helped the whole situation.
"Thank you Orochimaru" Takumi said after one of the check-ups and gave the snake boy a small smile. The latter just patted his shoulder and sent him a quick glance before turning to his notes to write down the development from his Quirk. The boy took it as his cue to leave. Only when the door fell heavily into the lock did the Sannin look up again. He looked at the spot where the boy was sitting a moment ago. Soon it would become clear if the boy was really willing to work under him. Takumi was not Sora. While he was frustrated with the world in his own way, it did not mean that he agreed with Orochimaru's ways. If he wasn't, he would either have to eliminate him or turn him into a will-less puppet the same way he did with the others. Neither was ideal, but he would not allow a young boy to stand in his way.
Orochimaru found his way to one of the lower floors of his lair. Down here were the slightly messier places. The dungeons, the torture chamber, and a few of his more gruesome experiments. While it was bright and quiet upstairs, it was dark here and the whimpers of the prisoners echoed through the long corridors. Even Sora was here only once and that briefly. The boy didn't need to be here yet, because this was where Orochimaru could let off steam with all his heart. He entered a room where many, large capsules were lined up in rows. The liquid was slightly greenish and glowed ominously as bubbles rose. Inside was a tall, dark figure. Leathery skin, animalistic features and exposed brain. Nomus. Inhuman mutants he had been given by All for One for his own experiments. Orochimaru knew that All for One had another scientist working for him, and that was why it had become something of a silent competition to see who would get the best results. The Sannin was confident that he would win this, because while this doctor was a genius when it came to genetic science and had All for One as a helping hand who could hand out Quirks like a piece of bread, Orochimaru was no less a genius and on top of that he had direct access to chakra. Quirks were just collections of chakra, practically Kekkei Genkai. In his old world, it would have been comparable to the time shortly after the lives of Indra and Ashura Otsutsuki. At that time, even some of the population had no chakra, so they were Quirkless, while others possessed chakra and practically had Quirks. Who knows, maybe if this world developed a bit more, chakra would become as essential to people's lives here that no chakra would equal death.
For now, it didn't, and Orochimaru could just use that to his advantage. A person approached him. Orochimaru tore his gaze from the grotesque creature.
"Thirty-two, report!" he commanded and the person nodded before rattling off any observations and changes in vitals. There weren't many signs of life because these creatures were practically dead.From all he knew, they were all once corpses brought back to life by some immoral means. Or at least to a semi-living state where they would not survive long without outside help. Though they were basically incapable of consuming food and really were just a robots moving on command. Orochimaru honestly wondered how they had brought these things to life. His Edo Tensei was better, at any rate, and he was not about to brag.
"-and number 5 has shown signs of mutation" said thirty-two and his gaze snapped to the capsule with number 5. Orochimaru stepped closer and eyed the creature inside. Then his gaze fell to its head, or to be more precise, its eyes, and he couldn't help but notice that they were focused on him. He walked a few steps to the left and to the right and then found that they were following him. He grinned and his golden eyes lit up with interest.
"Well, that's interesting" he said, intrigued, "Number 5 is able to form independent thoughts good enough to follow a figure with his eyes."
He turned to Thirty-Two "get him into one of the lower single rooms and tighten security around him. When that is done, come to me and report back. Note any changes in his behavior" he said, glancing sideways at the creature, which was still staring at him out of its wide-open, vacant eye.
"Let's see what it's capable of."
~*~
"You mean to tell me that one of your Nomus is capable of intelligent thought?" asked All for One, somewhat surprised.
"It's not much, but it's developing at an amazing rate. Right now, though, it's uncertain what direction it might head, which is why I've isolated it." said Orochimaru as he sat comfortably on one of the bar stools. Shigaraki was a few feet away, circling his glass boredly while Kurogiri cleaned the counter. No matter when Orochimaru came, he always seemed to do the same thing. Either he was cleaning the counter or a glass. Nothing else.
All for One hummed "We've had a few who are capable of logical thought as well, however it's impressive that you've managed to do it in such a short time" he praised him and seemed lost in thought a moment later.
"When exactly are you planning to deploy the Nomus?" asked Orochimaru curiously, and Shigaraki listened up.
"In the next year or two, we'll be releasing the first prototypes to the public," All for One replied, "I planned to use them as a debut for Tomura once he's ready."
At the words, an exuberant grin formed on Shigaraki's lips. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. To him, this person was really just a big kid. He wondered if he would ever be ready to lead a real group with that attitude, but that wasn't his problem. If All for One felt that he wanted to use him as a figurehead for this organization, then he should do so. As long as Orochimaru wasn't interfered with, he could enjoy the show in peace. And he was sure that a man-child who was ready to kill and who cared little for the losses of others left quite a bit of chaos in his wake.
He slowly straightened up "Well, I'm off then" and moved towards the exit.
Suddenly All for One seemed to think of something else "You should be careful, many eyes are on you right now. Many will try to contact you in the future and I don't just mean one side" he warned.
Orochimaru simply raised his hand in farewell and walked out of the door.
~*~
A few days later when Orochimaru took a mission again, he could feel himself being followed. "you are really naive if you think that just this many would be enough to stop me" he sneered and shushined himself onto a roof. From there he could see a person running out of the alley and looking around in confusion.
The Sannin could recognize the person. He was one of his father's men. Looks like they were starting to get active now.
The man said something into a walkie talkie and then continued running down the street. The other chakra signatures were also discharging.
"Pathetic" he whispered and continued walking in his target direction.
~*~
A few days later, over dinner, his father informed him that he would now call in Pro Heroes because the operations were becoming increasingly risky.
~*~
"Orochi-fucking-maru! I have a fucking Quirk! Are you a god or something, because I am so OP now!" a way too excited Takumi yelled through the base, nearly knocking the Sannin over as he slithered around the corner.
"Good to know" Takumi was a bit offended at this completely unenergized response.
"What is with that reaction?! I, quirkless, got a fucking OP quirk and all you shitty creep got to say is 'good to know'?!!"
Orochimaru couldn't help but notice that the boy cursed a lot when he felt strong emotions. "Well, are you planning on showing me your Quirk then?" he asked calmly, waiting until the boy calmed down a bit.
"To find you I just screamed my lungs out, of course I want to show you!" he exclaimed agitatedly, leading the sannin into the hall where Sora was already waiting. He held a piece of paper and a pen in his hand and handed them to Takumi when he arrived at his place.
"Behold and be amazed" he said to Orochimaru, taking a book as a base and starting to scribble some kind of robot on the sheet. It looked very... indistinct and you could really only tell what it was at second glance. Strokes odd, proportions practically non-existent and let's not even talk about the laser guns.
When he was done, he handed the book and pen to Sora. Then he put the flat of his hand on the picture and closed his eyes strained. Orochimaru could see his chakra circuit activate and slowly flow into the picture.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he threw the paper away from him. It landed on the ground a few feet away, and shortly after, the robot that had just been seen on it grew out of the paper and became three-dimensional. It was about the size of an adult human, its shape was rather coarse and it looked as if it would fall apart at any moment. His proportions were just as horrible as in the picture and the laser cannon just as ridiculous.
But it didn't matter, because what mattered was that the boy had just created it with the help of his Quirk. It was similar to the boy who had replaced Sasuke in Team 7. If he remembered correctly, he was working with ink back then.
"That's impressive" Orochimaru praised and Takumi grinned broadly at him.
"And that's not all" he continued, turning to the robot "Star Shooter 1000!" Orochimaru would not question the name " Ultra Laser!" he shouted, pointing to the training dummy standing at the other end of the hall. The robot made buzzing sounds as the laser cannon could be seen charging.
A countdown followed shortly after, which Takumi and Sora counted along with motivation.
"three"
"two"
"one"
And what followed could well be compared to a ketchup bottle. You know that moment when you press too hard on the bottle and then a stream of the mixture came out and messed everything up? Sort of. Including the very annoying farting sound.
It was just a black mass that this robot practically pooped out. It flew across the room at a good speed before fluttering to the floor a few feet away from the doll.
All three of them watched the whole thing and Takumi blushed deeply before burying his face in his hands, "It wasn't planned that way" he muttered, wanting to sink into the ground in shame.
Orochimaru was tempted to clap. Just to see how far he could push the boy until he burned out in shame.
"Woooow!" exclaimed Sora excitedly "That was cool! That was like wroom and then whoosh and then splat". He made wild hand motions, at which Takumi groaned in pain.
"Yeah, very thrilling" Orochimaru said sarcastically, nodding in agreement.
Takumi gave him his best death glare, at which the sannin laughed out loud. It was like an offended duckling staring angrily at him while tripping over its own feet.
Takumi avoided him for the rest of the day.
~*~
"Tell me Kenta, what would you do if you became a hero?" a curious Midoriya asked him. It was lunch time and both of them had stayed in the empty classroom. Orochimaru eyed him briefly out of the corner of his eye and then turned to his bento.
"Fighting," he answered curtly, and it was true. First and foremost, he generally couldn't see himself as a hero, and even if he became one, he'd only be good for the slightly more violent scenarios. Maybe some first aid and strategy, but otherwise he wasn't the type to run around saving people.
If he was actually fully on the side of the heroes, he would probably do something similar to what Danzo did back in Konoha. This necessary evil to keep the peace on the surface. But something like that never ended well, and you were still half in the shadows the whole time while others celebrated a peace built on blood. That wasn't a position for him and that's why he didn't see himself on the good side. He had never personally seen himself as a good person and he knew his morals were pretty twisted, otherwise he probably would have never become what he was today.
"E..ehh? Fighting? I...isn't that n...a bit.... well..." Midoriya looked uncertainly at the ground, trying to find the right words.
"But I don't plan on becoming a hero anyway" Orochimaru interrupted him, to which he looked up again.
"B..but your b..brother s..said that-"
"That my mother wants me to enroll at UA like him, yes, but UA has other courses besides the one for heroes" the sannin cut in again and the greenette made a few unintelligible sounds.
"So you're going to UA?" he asked, the emotion in his voice indefinable.
"Probably."
Silence filled the room after that.
"U..uh, good luck?"
Both could hear how fake that sounded, but no one mentioned it.
____________________________
I don't know if I managed to pick them all out, but I called Takumi in some parts Tatsumi or Tasumi, because I forgot for a short time how I named my own OC....