Snake House

When he first opened his golden eyes into this new world, the sight that greeted him was one of destruction.

Cracks were on the ground, and buildings were trembling dangerously, as people were screaming and running in panic.

Some distance away, a battle between a large flaming man and a monstrous being made of jagged black rock was occuring.

Upon closer inspection, he noted that the flaming man was obviously trying to downplay his abilities while herding the rock creature away carefully despite his capabilities obviously being far above the creature's.

Why was he doing this? To avoid further destruction from his fire perhaps?

Despite this, it was clear that neither combatants were Shinobi for he sensed no trace of chakra from both.

So what were they?

A hero and a villain. A quiet voice at the deepest ebbs of his mind whispered.

Somewhere in the crowd, a woman yells, distraught. 

"Izuku?! Izuku! Where are you?! Excuse me, has anyone seen my son? Please!"

Faintly, he felt the need to call out to that woman, but, he didn't know why, so all he did was frown and continued assessing the situation he found himself in.

This body was weak and obviously untrained. Insufficient. 

Lacking chakra like everyone else.

Unfortunately, his thinking was forced to be cut off, as some distance away, a large blast occured where the battle was taking place, and just a split second later, the building closest to him cracked ominously.

It was falling.

The body he was in right now will not be able to escape this in time to avoid death or serious injuries. 

So, the only option was-

Reverse Summoning.

...

Midoriya Izuku, 12 years and 5 days old, quirkless, with two recently deceased parents. His most obvious physical characteristics are his untamable green curls, green eyes, and freckles dotting his cheeks.

Orochimaru, approximately 70 years old, Snake Sannin, and parent to a lovely child called Mitsuki. His physical characteristics include straight black hair, golden slitted eyes, and purple markings on his eyelids.

Now, at this moment, a boy was staring at his reflection in the mirror of a hospital ward's bathroom, with round golden eyes, black curly hair, no freckles and nearly unnoticeable purple markings surrounding his eyelids. 

At this moment, he was neither Midoriya Izuku nor Orochimaru, but at the same time he was both.

So which name should he refer to himself as, when neither seemed quite right?

A problematic situation, really.

And it is both fortunate and unfortunate that he just happened to lose his parents just five days ago.

On the bright side, he had no need to come up with an elaborate explanation on the sudden changes in his personality brought upon by the sudden emergence of his past life's memories, yet, on the darker side, he just lost his only financial support in this world where child employment is illegal.

He still didn't know which side he felt more strongly; Izuku's loss, or Orochimaru's detachment. Perhaps a mix of both? How intriguing.

And even now, the hospital refuses to discharge him without a guardian's permit.

The police and heroes who rescued him from the villain attack which took his parents' lives claim to be searching for his closest living relatives, but who really knows whether they'll find anyone willing to take care of a child that isn't theirs?

As Midoriya Izuku, he feels unwilling about anyone trying to replace his parents, but as Orochimaru, all he could think about was how much new knowledge he could learn in this new world, particularly, the intricacies of quirks.

Izuku's grief and Orochimaru's curiosity.

It's a strange thing to feel both sides yet not quite fully experiencing them truly.

It was like he was receiving second-hand emotions. 

Strange.

"Midoriya-kun? Ah-" Distantly, he could hear the voice of the nurse in charge of him, along with the opening of the door. "He seems to be in the bathroom. Can you please wait for a moment?"

A muffled reply, one which he couldn't quite decipher, but obviously belonging to a certain detective wearing a hat who questioned him just some days ago when he suddenly reappeared upon the wreckage of the battle a whole day after he disappeared.

"Midoriya-kun? Someone is here to see you." The nurse's voice came again, right outside the bathroom door now.

"I see. I'll be right outside, Kimura-san." He replied, taking one last look at his reflection before turning around and exiting the bathroom, pulling along his infusion stand with him.

One look, and just as he'd expected, it was the same funny detective he met before. The one who tried to question him just after he'd gotten stitches for the wound on his head which was most likely the cause for the sudden appearance of his past life's memories. 

He understood the chaotic nature of the disaster that had just passed and the subsequent paranoia of the police who were handling the case, alert to any strange things occuring after an attack which brought upon great casualties, like an unknown person appearing out of nowhere upon the cordoned off battle site.

But questioning a person who'd just gotten out of surgery and was still dazed with anesthetics? Laughable.

"Detective Tsukauchi." He greeted calmly, betraying none of his inner thoughts as he sat on the hospital bed. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Midoriya-kun-" The boy inwardly cringed at how wrong that name sounded when referring to him, though, fortunately, the detective saw none of that from his outwardly calm face, and continued what he was saying. "-I just came here to inform you that we've successfully contacted a relative from your mother's side who was willing to take you in."

He frowned imperceptibly, listening to the detective continue his words. Did he just come here to speak about his future guardian?

"Akaguro Chizome, currently 28 years old, and your mother's distant cousin." The detective droned on, flipping the page of his pocket notebook to see if there were anything else to add. "It took a while of convincing, and I don't think he's fully trustworthy, but child services have confirmed that he's your only relative that is physically and financially fit to take care of you."

So a sketchy guy who's passable in everything except personal character? He could deal with that.

"Do you have any questions, Midoriya-kun?" Detective Tsukauchi looked up from his notebook upon realizing that the person he was talking to was a bit too quiet. 

And, wow. How many days did the detective stay up continuously? Those eyebags are impressive!

"Ah, yes." The boy started hesitantly. This whole situation was strange. 

"I'm sure any police officer could have brought this news-" He trailed off, looking towards the detective with eyes that seemed to question why he was really here, doing a menial task far below his job requirements.

In response, the detective just sighed, and somehow, he looked even more tired than he already did.

"Due to the excessive destruction that happened downtown five days ago, the local police stations have been understaffed lately." Detective Tsukauchi explained simply, and all the boy could do was nod in sympathy. "I was the only one free enough to drop by."

Was it that serious? They looked like they were handling it well a few days ago. Did something else happen?

"Since All Might went to America three days ago, the crime rates have drastically increased." Ah, so that was it. "Of course, Endeavor and the rest of the Pro Heroes are doing their best, but there's only so much they can do with the Symbol of Peace missing." 

This society seems too reliant on one person alone. Dangerously so.

"Oof- Time's running out." The detective quietly grumbled upon a quick look towards his watch and began to head towards the door. "Right- So, your guardian will probably arrive at noon tomorrow at the latest to help you discharge, and whether you decide to go with him or be put into foster care, you can discuss with the child services agent that will be present."

"I see. Thank you, detective." He stood up and bowed politely, seeing the detective off. 

"I'm really sorry for the rush." Detective Tsukauchi genuinely looked apologetic by how irresponsibly he seemed to be handling the boy's situation, but it was understandable considering how much cases were piling up these days. "Look, if you're ever in need of help-"

The detective tore off a page from his notebook and scribbled a string of numbers before handing it to the boy. "Here's my personal phone number."

"Oh." The boy blinked his golden eyes, not expecting this turn of events. "I'll be sure to keep it in mind, Tsukauchi-san."

And just like that, the detective was gone. 

But, shortly after, before he could even wrap his mind around what had happened, the nurse came back, bringing along with her a new visitor.

This one, a doctor.

...

"Body temperature is... 26.4 ° Celsius. No abnormalities in bodily functions." 

The sound of scribbling on paper.

"Tongue has a forked end... Can reach up to 24. 5 inches long. Noticably paler skin tone, change in hair and eye color."

A flipped page.

"Slitted eyes..." The doctor muttered to himself as he studied both eyes' reaction to light with a tiny flashlight. "Reacts to light the same way human eyes do but may have further changes that haven't been noticed yet."

He knew that this was mandatory procedure in order to document his "quirk", but he couldn't help feeling like he'd suddenly turned into an experimental subject with how the doctor kept looking at him like he wanted to open up his body to study what was going on with him.

The boy himself used to be something like a scientist by today's standards in his past life, but becoming the one being poked and prodded this way and that was a strange feeling.

After all, it wasn't really a common occurrence for a previously deemed quirkless individual to forcibly manifest a quirk, so the doctor's curiosity was understandable.

"Midoriya-kun, have you noticed any changes in your vision lately? Any blurring or narrowing?" The doctor asked, pen on clipboard, ready to write any findings on his form.

"No blurring. In fact, my vision seem to be sharper than before." The patient smiled and added helpfully. "Though, they seem more motion-sensitive."

Despite the snake-like eyes Orochimaru possessed, they actually functioned the same as human eyes, so his were probably the same.

"I see, I see." The doctor mumbled, quickly scribbling on the form. "Fascinating!"

This doctor sure loves his job if he's this excited by all this. Not that it's a bad thing. More people should pursue jobs that they actually enjoy.

"Now, on the day your quirk first manifested, according to eye witnesses, you just suddenly disappeared in place before part of a nearby building collapsed where you were standing." The doctor quickly flipped to the next page on his clipboard. "By any chance, does your quirk allow you to teleport?"

The patient shook his head. "No. I reverse summoned myself into a separate space."

The doctor suddenly paused, eyes glistening in interest. "And that space is-?"

This question, the boy pursed his lips slightly, not really knowing how to describe it. "Would you like a simple description or an extensive analysis of it?"

"Just a simple description would do, I think." The doctor said, rather regretfully as  he actually wanted to hear the most detailed explanation possible but was unable to due to protocol.

"I see." The boy nodded. "There is a separate dimension inside my body which houses an innumerable amount of snakes."

And that was the simplest way to say it since, there really isn't any other way to say that he had a copy of the Ryuuchi Cave hidden in a pocket dimension in his body and that he'd somehow turned into the White Snake Sage, without having to give context that he'd rather not.

Chakra didn't exist, so he used up his own stamina to access the Cave, though, with his body's rather abysmal state, the available energy stores are obviously pitiful. Too small to be able to do anything more than summoning a few snakes or reverse summoning himself, let alone trying to use his jutsus.

It also didn't help that most of the snakes are still eggs, and those that did manage to hatch in the past five days since he'd had access to the Cave were still too small to be helpful in any way.

"Keuh-" The doctor choked, mind being filled with an image of thousands of snakes slithering just beneath the boy's skin. Immediately he shuddered, face pale. "T- That's quite... Interesting. Well then-" 

...

After a day of pondering, he'd come into terms that he'd most likely never be able to use jutsus that require any elemental transformation anymore.

Fortunately, Yin and Yang transformation still worked, as evidenced by the tiny chakra scalpel on his finger, which meant, Mystical Palm is also possible.

So, following that train of thought, theoretically, the Gates of Rashomon, Dirty World Reincarnation, and his own collection of Snake-themed jutsus, should also work, considering that they have no elemental inclination.

Yes, he could work with this.

But, now, the main thing to focus on was not this.

After all, there is another much pressing matter at hand. 

One which has something to do with a flaming Pro Hero that was currently bowing in a ninety degree angle at the foot of his hospital bed.

"I understand that the loss that I had caused can never be returned to you, but-" The man spoke somberly without rising from his bow, determined to keep his position until he gets some kind of response. "I deeply apologize for my mistakes."

Todoroki Enji, Pro Hero Endeavor, despite his immense size, appeared so small at this moment. 

He remembered reading a news article a few years back about a fire that took the lives of both the Hero's first born son and his wife. Ever since then, Endeavor was noted to have a drastic change in character.

As well as a decrease in property damage. 

Except in this case, apparently. Because Midoriya Izuku was just unlucky like that.

The part of him that was Midoriya Izuku wished that the hero never came and never acknowledged the losses he inadvertently caused, so he could have someone to blame and hate justifiably.

But, all Orochimaru could see was a broken man, haunted by his past mistakes and regrets he could never face. A man running away from the fire he made.

"It's okay, Endeavor-san." The boy said quietly, patting the hero's shoulder to get him to rise. "You did your best."

To his words, the hero seemed to shudder, taking in a shaky breath, before standing up straight, face seemingly impassive as he had an image to maintain. But only he knew of his tightly clenched fists and glassy eyes, having gone all morning apologizing to each victim, only to be met with hateful screams, demanding for him to bring back their loved ones.

Endeavor took all accusations and blame in silence, not saying a single word in retort and only accepting it all. He could take all the attacks sent to him, but a single sentence of comfort from a child his youngest son's age, nearly made him crack and fall into ruin.

How long has it been since someone comforted him so?

His tongue bled by how hard he'd been biting it. The taste of rust and pain.

The boy saw, yet said nothing. Saw a man who'd made too many mistakes he can never fix.

And all he could feel was pity for Endeavor.