Months later, Yoshihiro shared his mind with another one of his apparitions currently teaching his son specifically.
He was brought out of his musings, however, by a coded letter arriving in his office. A black market contact was trying to reach him. With narrowed eyes, the alchemist donned a hood, his eyes turned into glowing slits and he vanished from Kirigakure only to reappear in a dingy inn on the outskirts of the Land of Water's capital.
"Lord Six," an agent of the black market stammered out after noticing the figure that suddenly appeared. He immediately recognized Yoshihiro under his black market moniker 'Lord Six' and hastily bowed. "I only just sent the message earlier today. I cannot believe you would arrive this fast."
Yoshihiro waved his hand to silence the man and ordered, "I was in the area. Tell me what these summons are about."
"Yes yes, follow me Lord Six," the agent quickly proposed after another deep bow and hurried towards a hidden door behind the inn's counter.
Once inside the basement, the black market affiliate hastily greeted, "Lord Snake, I have summoned Lord Six. P-please be reminded that no hostilities are allowed on our grounds."
The moment they were alone, 'Lord Snake' dropped his disguise and greeted in a raspy voice, "Terumi Yoshihiro."
"Orochimaru," Yoshihiro acknowledged and sat down opposite the Sannin.
Seeing that the Kiri nin didn't start talking, Orochimaru held up a scroll and offered, "This is what you were after for so long. 'Hashirama cells'."
"Oh? That bounty was put up almost a decade ago. I can't believe you would only answer it now," Yoshihiro countered with an indifferent smirk.
He had forgotten that he even put up that mission because all of his other goals were met so thoroughly. He didn't even plan to bind the cells to himself any longer. His body was now on Hashirama's level or even beyond it. And he had no need for Indra's and Ashura's chakra anymore.
Well, maybe it would help him with elevating his yin and yang affinities. He still couldn't combine these two to create 'truth-seeking' chakra.
But that was also what his new eyes were for.
"I am surprised as well. I would have thought that my research… partner would have offered these cells to you sooner," Orochimaru said with narrowed eyes.
Yoshihiro gained a sly smirk and explained, "Danzō did think I was stupid and lost quite a few Root operatives over the years. First they probably didn't know who I was, thinking I was just a civilian collector, a noble. But when they realized Lord Six was a ninja, they at least started to try and pass me flesh with chakra vaguely resembling Hashirama's. My best bet is that they were from your failed experiments."
Orochimaru, ever the schemer, inquired, "Oh? You know how to tell Hashirama's cells apart from a regular person's?"
He didn't even ask how the jinchūriki knew about the experiments. That crime in particular was a high-level village secret… but Orochimaru thought that the Kiri nin knew much more than the Mizukage's husband showed anyway. The man didn't even miss a beat and called his former 'partner' by his name.
"I know what makes them special, so I advise that you don't follow in the footsteps of Danzō's merry band of now-dead losers," Yoshihiro confirmed without explaining more.
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed as he licked his lips, deep in thought.
It was unsettling to watch.
"Regarding the payment," the Konoha rogue nin eventually extolled with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
Yoshihiro leaned forward, eager to hear the request. After all, 'canon events' were supposed to happen now.
Rasa was dead, Pakura would sooner kill Orochimaru than accept an alliance to sacrifice her own ninja for the Konoha Crush plan.
But would Orochimaru truly ask him to join?
"I always have a need for funds for my various experiments, but at the same time I do not truly need funds. Not from someone as special as you," Orochimaru explained, as he too leaned forward with a glint in his eyes.
"There's many things special about me," Yoshihiro pointed out with a sly grin.
"Too true, Yoshihiro-kun. From the boy who fled the moment he heard my name at the battlefield you came a very long way. I doubt I would survive a fight between the two of us now that you matured," the Sannin accepted with a gaze filled with sincere praise. "What I am after instead of money for these cells is simple. Pills."
"Pills?" Yoshihiro asked with an innocent smile.
Orochimaru nodded with a confident smile in return.
"Yes, I went to great lengths to confirm the rumors about this elusive 'grandmaster alchemist'. I even tried to leverage my standing in Akatsuki to get their leader to reveal more to me, but it went nowhere. I was sure you and Nagato-kun shared many secrets, but he was very tight-lipped about your deal. Konan-chan, of course, would reveal even less," Orochimaru narrated and observed Yoshihiro keenly.
"So I had to test it myself and sent a few cute little children into your academy. Two years of testing their blood later, I can confidently confirm, your miraculous pills exist. And you are that 'grandmaster alchemist'."
Yoshihiro looked amused as he leaned back in his chair. Eventually, he admitted, "I won't insult your intelligence. I do have pills that cleanse a body of filth and increase chakra control. Pills that increase chakra reserves and the results of training. Even some rare ones I would never share outside of my immediate circle."
His gaze slowly fell on the scroll in Orochimaru's hand and continued, "Of course, I also gladly admit that your assessment isn't wrong. I could kill you quite easily. Even through your weird rebirth jutsu."
The Sannin's eyes shook for the shortest moment but he did his best to remain confident in front of the jinchūriki.
After a sufficiently threatening moment of silence, Yoshihiro looked back into Orochimaru's eyes.
"Now, how much flesh did you bring and how many pills do you want in return?"
Taking a deep breath, Orochimaru realized that he might have miscalculated a little. Thankfully, though, he didn't ask for Yoshihiro's participation in his upcoming plans. That could have backfired even more spectacularly. After all, through simple deduction and the work of countless spies, Orochimaru was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that his fellow Sannin Tsunade knew Yoshihiro's secret as well. And that the twins she birthed were fathered by the man in front of him.
The pale-faced rogue nin would make absolutely sure that his would-be allies stay as far as possible from this monster's offspring.
After unsealing the two vials holding whitened skin and flesh filled with so much chakra and vitality that it seemed to be glowing, Orochimaru proposed, "Those pills you mentioned. Give me however many of them that you think is appropriate."
With a small grin, Yoshihiro looked at the shinobi sitting opposite him and praised, "I really like negotiating with smart people."
Taking out several flasks from his dimension, his smile turned more friendly as he advised, "Please keep in mind, I threatened Tsunade with the death of you and Jiraiya as well as the annihilation of Konoha for daring to reveal the secret of my pills."
Orochimaru felt the chakra the Kiri nin released and started shivering.
The Sannin forcefully relaxed, nodded, and Yoshihiro once more praised, "Very well. It'd be a hassle to burn down Otogakure, so please be mindful of my time."
Watching the man collect the samples of Hashirama's remains and leave with a space-time jutsu he had no knowledge of, Orochimaru looked down at the violently trembling hands he took out of his sleeves. They didn't start obeying him even minutes later, so he took one of the ceramic bottles on the table with still-shaking hands and opened it.
Taking a deep whiff, the trembling stopped as he mumbled, "What a peculiar smell. This wasn't made by ordinary means at all…"
Breaking apart a pill, Orochimaru was briefly distracted from his close brush with death as his scientific mind took over. Without a care for his current vessel or his current location, he swallowed the pill he had just crushed and eagerly observed the changes in his body.
"Remarkable! Its effects are acting so fast!" The Konoha criminal exclaimed before sweat started to form at his temples. In no time, he stood up and hurried toward the nearest bathroom.
Hours spent at his nearest toilet and washing up in this dingy basement later, Orochimaru finally collected the remaining pills and was on the verge of returning to his village to tighten the security. He was sure his little existence was beneath the jinchūriki's notice if he didn't agonize the man further, but he would still move his main laboratory to a more secure facility that would allow him to flee better.
With the last pill, however, the Sannin found a note left behind by Terumi Yoshihiro.
"Interesting… well, I did tell him I didn't need funds… but this is a tempting offer. It's good that I still have a puppet in the Hyuga clan… getting the needed samples will be easy with my upcoming plans," Orochimaru contemplated out loud with a raspy chuckle. "But what could he need a mature clone for? A new kind of pill? No… with his strength he could just take the Hyuga bodies himself… a toy?"
Orochimaru shook his head with furrowed brows that quickly eased into a smile.
'What he needs it for is of no matter to me. It's an interesting offer that I can use to advance my own research while he pays for it,' he eventually thought with a small shrug as he left the Land of Water at the highest speed he was able to use.
———
Back in Amegakure, Konan and Nagato were looking at the dreary environment of their village as a heavy rain hung over the village.
"Why did Madara say there was something weird about the five-tails? Do we need to find the beast again after it reformed?" Konan asked with a stoic expression.
Nagato, back in good health thanks to a pill given to him by Yoshihiro, gently shook his head.
"The chakra was enough if nothing else is unexpected about the other tailed-beasts. I had Madara look into Han's history. He and Roshi were attacked years ago… I suspect it was Yoshihiro because it was roughly at the time we met in the Land of Iron. He told you he would take a path through the Land of Earth," Nagato calmly narrated.
Konan's frown deepened.
She was beyond grateful that a pill from Yoshihiro managed to give Nagato back the use of his legs, but after the last handover of the freed Uzumaki children, her image of the man changed.
"Still thinking about his offer? You could do worse than him as a father for your offspring," Nagato calmly quipped, a small smile breaking on his face. He had immensely enjoyed seeing his long-time companion so flustered that day. It was a genuine emotion, and since Yahiko's death, both of them rarely showed those.
"That bastard," Konan cursed through gritted teeth. "How dare he? I almost no longer feel bad that we will have to fight him, too, to fulfill our goal."
Nagato's small smile vanished.
He, too, was grateful to the six-tails jinchūriki for the pill that changed the trajectory of his life. The newfound strength he regained after losing control over his legs in the fight with Hanzo was a boon he cherished immensely.
But Terumi Yoshihiro was a jinchūriki. And they needed every bijū, sealed inside a friend or not, to fulfill their ultimate goal of bringing peace to the world through pain.
Against all hope, Nagato even sometimes found himself thinking, 'What if Yoshihiro agreed and gave up his bijū through mutual understanding? Hearing their plan, maybe he would choose to give up his tailed beast by himself.'
It would spare them a lot of heartache… and potential injury.
They had never seen Yoshihiro fight seriously, but if he had pills that could heal even the weakness Nagato's body endured from the strain of the Rinnegan and clear Hanzo's lingering poison – what else did the elusive Kiri nin have hidden?
Getting the six-tails from the Kiri jinchūriki seemed to be the most troublesome obstacle in their plans, both emotionally and objectively. Yoshihiro didn't hold the title of the world's strongest jinchūriki for nothing.