That time Orochimaru did a good deed

A/N I have never written anything like this before. It is dark for me but probably not that bad. I am having a major identity crisis with my next project. I actually really need some help if anyone wants to dm me on Tumblr and help me sort through my thoughts I would appreciate it. This was just a scene that popped into my head on my run this morning. It is sort of a rando au scene from that project, time travel blah blah blah. Sakumo is alive. timeline is wonky for this. 

Another experiment failed.

Damn.

Orochimaru threw a sheet over the dead child. He would deal with his corpse later.

Maybe the next boy.

Recreating Hashirama's wood release was proving more difficult than he had expected. Every attempt had been an abysmal failure. There were still several ongoing, but he did not have high hopes. Perhaps he needed to start from scratch. Maybe a change of scenery would help. He could feel his former sensei closing in. Hiruzen would not approve of his little project, no matter that it may one day prove useful.

A thrill ran down his spine and he froze mid-step. Someone had crossed his warding. Closing his eyes, he reached out with his chakra. Only one person?

Surely if it was Hiruzen, he would not have come alone.

And he would mask his chakra.

Whoever this was was doing nothing to hide themselves. They wanted him to know they were there.

Interesting.

"Alright. I'll bite."

Orochimaru left his lab taking the most direct route through the compound.

In the narrow ravine leading to his cave entrance, stood a man. He was familiar and yet... not. Keeping his guard up, he scanned the treeline for any companions but there truly didn't seem to be anyone else.

He stepped into the light. The man looked up.

"The White Fang?"

Orochimaru was immediately on the defensive. The number of Leaf shinobi he felt truly able to threaten him was few, but this man was one of them.

"Sakumo."

The man let out a low, hollow chuckle.

"Not quite."

Upon closer inspection, he realized that no, this was not Hatake Sakumo. The bottom half of his face was covered, and he wore civilian clothes, but there was a weapons pouch at his hip and a large scroll tied to his back. The hair was the same.

"Who are you and what do you want? Please, stranger. My time is terribly precious."

"You don't need to know who I am. What I want is your help."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. There was something in his voice, a desperate, broken quality that scratched across the air between them. This was a man with nothing left to lose. Hm. He may be useful.

He tipped his head, a smirk spreading across his face. "My help, hmm? With what, I wonder? My expertise is... rather varied."

"The Nidaime's Impure World Reanimation jutsu." Shock sparked in Orochimaru's chest but he allowed none of it to show. "I know you can do it. You haven't perfected it yet, but I don't need it to be perfect. I just need it to work."

Yet?

He had only performed the forbidden jutsu once. The idea of tooling with the design, perfecting the jutsu's limitations had appealed to him. But he was focused on cloning Hashirama and recreating the wood release, anything else could wait.