The Changed Orochimaru

Time flowed like water.

In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.

Within the dilapidated training ground.

Jin hung upside down from a tree, gnawing on an apple, when Minato Namikaze suddenly appeared and jabbed a finger at him.

The next moment.

Minato Namikaze poked a hole through the tree.

Yet Jin's back met something solid. Leaning against Minato's back, he took a huge bite from his apple.

"Too slow, little Minato."

The two vanished from their spots simultaneously using Soru.

Their rapidly moving figures collided all around the field.

In the distance, Kushina stood beneath a tree. A pebble suddenly shot from her hand and struck the trunk.

In an instant, countless shuriken and kunai fell from the tree.

Her body swayed from side to side like paper, yet not a single kunai or shuriken could touch her.

Kiyoshi Hyuga gritted his teeth at the sight.

He couldn't compare. He really couldn't compare.

Of the Four Styles, Minato Namikaze had completely mastered all of them in just three months, and could even use them with ease.

Kushina Uzumaki had also mastered Kami-e and Soru.

But he had only mastered Tekkai and was still training in Soru.

The Four Styles had a threshold, and an extremely high one at that—especially in terms of Chakra requirements.

He simply could not believe that Minato Namikaze was such a genius.

Yet what he saw before him had already proven it. It seemed that... perhaps... he did not want to admit it... but he was inferior to Minato Namikaze.

But compared to those two.

Uchiha Jin was a complete monster.

He did not know where the other party had obtained the Four Styles, but his combat ability was utterly beyond what someone his age should possess.

That nimble movement, those powerful reflexes, the effortless use of the Four Styles.

Even a genius like Minato Namikaze could only be toyed with.

Even though Jin could not use ninjutsu, Kiyoshi felt that even the chunin in his clan might not necessarily be a match for him.

It was not as though he had never sparred with chunin or jonin before. Uchiha Jin gave him the feeling of facing a jonin.

"This guy is a monster wearing human skin, isn't he?"

Kiyoshi Hyuga stared intently at the person Minato Namikaze was relentlessly chasing. That person was the one truly worth pursuing.

Unfortunately.

He could not even compare to Minato Namikaze.

Jin glanced at Kiyoshi Hyuga, who was observing them. The other boy did not know about Basic Inner Cultivation.

Mainly because the cloth wrapped around his forehead concealed the mark of the Caged Bird. The Hyuga Branch Family simply could not resist the Main Branch.

Naturally, Jin could not trust him either.

Tilting his head aside to dodge Minato Namikaze's Shigan, Jin watched as the nearby tree was instantly pierced through with a "whoosh."

He spun and swept a leg out. Minato Namikaze reacted with astonishing speed—so fast it was almost unnatural. He actually placed a hand on the incoming leg, intending to lift himself up.

But Jin suddenly burst forward, making his sweeping kick even faster. It struck Minato Namikaze in the abdomen first and sent him flying.

Minato Namikaze steadied himself in midair, landed on a tree, and stood sideways against its trunk.

"Minato, you still need to work harder." Jin finished the apple in his hand as he encouraged him.

Minato Namikaze climbed down from the tree and dropped onto the ground.

"Jin, why are you so strong?" Minato Namikaze asked miserably.

He could feel his strength improving rapidly, yet he still could not gauge Jin's true depth. It was like facing a mountain—he thought he had reached the mountainside, yet the distance to the summit had not changed at all.

He had already cultivated Basic Inner Cultivation to the fourth level and mastered all Four Styles, yet compared to Jin, he was still like a child facing an adult.

"You must be diligent, Minato." Jin shook his head solemnly.

Over the past three months, he had actually improved very little. His growing body had limited him.

However, he had built a solid foundation before, and Minato Namikaze, Might Duy, Kushina, and Orochimaru's understanding of Basic Inner Cultivation had become nourishment for him.

As had Minato Namikaze and the other two's understanding of the Four Styles.

That was why he could so thoroughly overwhelm Minato Namikaze.

No matter how gifted he was, the current Minato Namikaze was only comparable to a chunin.

That said, among everyone, Orochimaru had progressed the furthest in Basic Inner Cultivation and had already begun to delve into the final layer.

The final layer had essentially been created by Jin in pursuit of immortal cultivation. Not only was it complicated, but it also required a massive amount of chakra.

"Oh, right. Teacher Inoue said you absolutely have to go to school tomorrow. There's an important announcement." Minato Namikaze recalled what Satoru Inoue had told him to pass on to Jin.

Mainly because over the past three months, Satoru Inoue... simply!! Could not!! Find!! Uchiha Jin anywhere!!

"Got it." Jin replied perfunctorily.

Still, if he used that technique, he could now threaten a jōnin—or perhaps he already possessed jōnin-level strength.

Though he could only use it once.

Orochimaru expressionlessly watched as the ninja inside the glass container gradually turned into wood amid agonized screams.

A bandage-wrapped man emerged from the shadows.

Under the light, he looked utterly gloomy.

Konoha's shadow.

Shimura Danzō.

"Any progress?"

Orochimaru replied coldly.

"As you can see, it failed."

Shimura Danzō's expression was far from pleasant.

"This experiment has been going on for a month. Why hasn't there been the slightest bit of progress?"

Moreover, quite a few people had already been sacrificed for this experiment, and it had even begun to affect frontline manpower.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, the true initiator of this task, had begun to waver.

"Hashirama Cells only continue to erode their hosts. They simply can't be effectively suppressed."

Orochimaru shook his head. He had basically tried every method available, but he still could not weaken the erosion of the Hashirama Cells.

"Continue the experiments. You must produce results."

"I am not your subordinate, Lord Danzō."

Orochimaru emphasized the honorific in "Lord," casting Danzō a sidelong glance. Even if this man was his teacher's close friend, he had no right to order him around.

Danzō gave Orochimaru a long, deep look.

"Hiruzen is also waiting for results. If there is no progress, this experiment will be shut down."

Such enormous sacrifices, yet not a single result.

That weakling Hiruzen Sarutobi would never permit this experiment to continue.

Danzō turned and disappeared into the shadows.

In all of Konoha, there were only two people capable of researching Hashirama Cells.

One was Orochimaru, and the other was Tsunade, who absolutely could not be allowed to learn even the slightest detail.

After all, telling her that they had dug up her Great Grandfather's grave to strengthen Konoha...

No matter how powerful the brainwashing of the Will of Fire was, it could not make Tsunade stay silent. She might even turn Konoha upside down.

As Orochimaru watched Danzō leave, he did not look back at the test subject. Instead, he looked at a slowly growing sapling in an inconspicuous potted plant nearby.

In his eyes, perhaps that sapling was even more tempting than the test subject.

"Truly incredible. That Uchiha is simply a genius."

His attitude had changed from his previous doubts to certainty.

This potted plant had nothing whatsoever to do with Hashirama Cells. It had originally contained a dead sapling. He had merely sealed the Fūinjutsu of Basic Inner Cultivation into it, and had never watered it since.

Instead, he had continuously used chakra in place of water.

Yet this seedling, which should have been dead, had miraculously begun to grow.

"If chakra reaches a certain level, could it truly achieve immortality?"

Orochimaru sank into thought.

Basic Inner Cultivation could allow someone to live a few years longer.

By its nature, it could not achieve longevity or immortality.

But the key lay in the Third Layer's method.

"Seal nature's power within the body using chakra."

There was a kind of power in this world known as Sage Mode Chakra. Everyone generally thought of absorbing it; no one had ever considered using it in the form of a seal.

According to the steps described above, the sealed natural power would continuously transform one's physique through the characteristics of inner cultivation, turning it into a body capable of adapting to natural power.

"If the human body could retain Sage Mode Chakra indefinitely, it really could achieve immortality."

The white snakes within Ryūchi Cave were clearly living examples.

"This truly is the path to immortality."

At that moment, Orochimaru's eyes lit up.

In his pursuit of ninjutsu, he had deeply felt the insufficiency of a human lifespan. That was why he had settled for seeking a path to immortality. Now, a true path to immortality lay before him.

What Hashirama Cells? They were merely the work reluctantly assigned to a wage slave.

Though Hashirama Cells were miraculous, they could not grant immortality.

Only the path of this basic Fūinjutsu was the right one.

"So Fūinjutsu is the future."

Uchiha Jin had never expected this.

The emergence of Basic Inner Cultivation had caused Orochimaru to completely stray from his original path.

Perhaps similar techniques had once appeared in the Naruto World, but ninjas were all brutes who pursued destructive power. They only saw immediate destruction.

They pursued the pinnacle of techniques.

Yet they had never considered the path to immortality.

Originally, Orochimaru had been the only one in this world to think of that path.

Now there was one more.

Uchiha Jin.

Ninja Academy.

Jin looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings and sighed.

"It's only been a few days since I came here, but even the classroom feels unfamiliar."

You haven't been here for three months!!

Satoru Inoue roared inwardly upon hearing Uchiha Jin's words. Unfortunately, to maintain a teacher's dignity, he could only keep a gentle smile on his face.

"Eugh! Teacher Inoue's smile is so ugly."

A passing student looked disgusted.

The smile on Satoru Inoue's face became uglier than a crying expression.

"Won't you even leave me my last shred of dignity?"

Satoru Inoue: orz.

It was not until everyone had entered the classroom that Satoru Inoue recovered from his dejection.

Thinking of what was to come, his mood began to sink.

He slowly walked to the podium, and his body suddenly felt heavy.

Looking down from the podium at the adorable students in the classroom, he had personally raised every one of them except Jin.

He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat caught for a moment.

Wasn't the purpose of the Ninja Academy established by the Second Hokage for students to graduate at the age of twelve? When had it become ten?

He could not understand that question, nor could he understand the decision that followed.

Seeing the students' puzzled gazes fixed on him, Satoru Inoue took three deep breaths before putting on his brightest smile.

"Students, congratulations. Starting tomorrow, all of you may take the graduation exam."

"Eh!!!"

Jin shot to his feet, slamming his hand on the desk.