Apprenticing Under Orochimaru

After dinner, inside the Uchiha Council Hall.

Numerous Elders had gathered together, making it feel rather like a joint trial by three judicial authorities.

"That was roughly how it happened." Kyosuke gave a detailed account of his meeting with the Hokage.

Naturally, it was an edited version.

After hearing him out, the Elders each pondered for a moment before letting the matter pass.

After all, although the Uchiha Clan was dissatisfied with Konoha's upper ranks, they had not yet reached the point of launching a rebellion. They had merely asked the usual questions before moving on.

Then, they began discussing his apprenticeship under Orochimaru.

After briefly exchanging their thoughts, they realized that it had its benefits.

After all, the Third Hokage was gradually getting on in years. In a few years, the election for the Fourth Hokage would likely begin.

If Orochimaru successfully rose to the position, Kyosuke, as his disciple, would naturally rise with him.

Perhaps, several years from now, Kyosuke becoming the Fifth Hokage would not be impossible either.

So, the old men began lecturing Kyosuke at length, telling him to listen to his teacher, not be willful, and how the outside world was nothing like home.

For a while, Kyosuke felt his head beginning to ache.

After a long while, the exhausted Elders finally let him go. After bowing, Kyosuke fled as though he had been granted a pardon.

"That little fellow must think we're a nuisance, hahaha." Watching Kyosuke's retreating figure, the Great Elder burst into laughter.

The moment Kyosuke stepped out of the Council Hall, he spotted a petite figure leaning against the entrance.

The figure noticed him as well. She was just about to greet him when she seemed to remember something, turned around, and presented him with the back of her head.

Suppressing a laugh, Kyosuke slowly walked over and patted her little head. "What, are you still angry?"

"Hmph." The figure was Uchiha Nagisa, who had been stewing all day after her grandfather forcibly kept her at home. She had been so angry that she had not even eaten dinner.

Seeing her refuse to speak, Kyosuke shook his head helplessly. Then, grabbing her little ponytail with one hand, he headed outside.

"Hey—hey—Kyosuke, what are you doing?" Nagisa flailed and shouted.

"What else? I'm taking you to eat." Kyosuke replied irritably.

"Hehe." Nagisa smiled, then asked curiously, "I heard you beat that brat so badly today that he couldn't fight back at all. Was that true?"

"Hmph, of course."

"You're going to train with Lord Orochimaru tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Hey—you think Lord Orochimaru..."

The next day, Kyosuke got up early. After making only a few simple preparations, he headed to Orochimaru's home.

After all, it was his first time visiting his teacher's home. Showing up late would be completely unacceptable.

Being Orochimaru's disciple was still quite important to him at this point, so he could not afford to take it lightly.

Knock, knock, knock. Kyosuke looked at the somewhat plain residence before him. After waiting a while, he knocked firmly on the door.

With the sound of old wood grinding, the door slowly opened.

Kyosuke was just about to offer a greeting when he realized that the one opening the door was not Orochimaru, but a mottled snake.

Kyosuke looked down at it, thanked it, and stepped into the courtyard.

Soon, he followed the corridor into the main hall of the residence. Orochimaru, dressed in a white kimono, was seated in a chair, sipping tea.

"You're here," Orochimaru said.

"Mm," Kyosuke replied.

After the two stared at each other for a while, Orochimaru suddenly asked, "What do you want to learn from me?"

"Everything." Kyosuke met his eyes directly as he answered.

"Very good." Orochimaru nodded, then rose and headed toward the inner hall.

Kyosuke hurriedly followed him.

He noticed that Orochimaru did not stop after entering the inner hall. Only when he reached a concealed corner did he bring his hands together and rapidly form a hand seal.

Then, accompanied by a faint fluctuation of Chakra, he passed straight through the wall.

"Genjutsu." Kyosuke's eyes lit up, and he followed Orochimaru through the wall.

Beyond it was a long flight of stairs leading deep underground.

Kyosuke was not surprised by this at all.

After all, as a research fanatic, if Orochimaru did not have some secret laboratory, Kyosuke would not believe it even if he were beaten to death.

Kyosuke was even certain that the one Orochimaru was willing to show him was definitely not his most secret laboratory.

Even so, what Kyosuke saw next still gave him the creeps.

In the enormous underground cavern stood dozens of containers of various sizes.

Inside those containers were the corpses of all kinds of animals and humans.

"Are you afraid?" Orochimaru, walking ahead, suddenly asked.

"No." Kyosuke answered calmly.

"Very good." This was the second time Orochimaru had said those words today, and he continued leading the way.

About ten minutes later, the two arrived at a stone chamber.

"I heard you enjoy researching Ninjutsu. You may freely read the materials and notes here. If there is anything you do not understand, write it down, and I will explain it when I have time." Orochimaru pointed at the display shelves in the corner.

Kyosuke nodded to show that he understood.

Then Orochimaru pointed to another shelf and said, "This is where I keep my records of Ninjutsu. Some are Ninjutsu I created myself, and I believe your clan's Ninjutsu Pavilion does not have them."

Kyosuke nodded again.

"Are you afraid of snakes?" Orochimaru asked once more.

"Since I dared to become your disciple, how could I be afraid of snakes?" Kyosuke replied with a smile.

"Hehe." Orochimaru chuckled in a low voice, then tilted his head back and spat out an enormous scroll.

Kyosuke suppressed his nausea and reached out to accept the scroll.

After opening it, he was delighted to discover that it was the Summoning Technique contract scroll for Ryūchi Cave, one of the three great mysterious holy lands.

Seeing Kyosuke's undisguised delight, Orochimaru asked curiously, "You know Ryūchi Cave?"

Kyosuke bit his finger and wrote his name on the scroll without looking up. "I saw it in the clan's records."

"The Uchiha Clan's records..." Orochimaru murmured.

Hearing that, Kyosuke readily said, "In a few days, I'll make a copy of those materials and bring them to you, Teacher."

Orochimaru nodded and accepted without ceremony. Then, seeing Kyosuke holding the scroll with a delighted expression, he said, "I am often away from home. From now on, you may enter and use this laboratory freely. If there is anything you do not understand, wait until I return."

After saying that, he turned and left with extraordinary ease.

Over the following month, aside from his daily patrol duties, Kyosuke spent nearly all his time in the laboratory.

Although none of his basic attributes aside from Spirit had increased much, his gains in Ninjutsu were substantial.

He had already mastered the B-rank Earth Flow River, the C-rank Earth Flow Wall, the C-rank Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, and the D-rank Summoning Technique.

He had been able to master these Ninjutsu so quickly because he had spent 110 Experience Points to raise Ninjutsu Theory to level 3.

Kyosuke had chosen to improve this skill for two reasons.

First, only by displaying talent in "research" could he truly gain access to Orochimaru's core Ninjutsu. Otherwise, he could easily become an enhanced version of Anko Mitarashi.

Second, he was preparing to suppress his level.

He had discovered that once he raised either his personal level or Ninjutsu levels excessively, the rewards from many Instance Dungeons would shrink drastically.

Take his Sharingan, for example. If he did not want to someday act out a drama of "kill relatives, kill friends, then kill enemies," then both the Mangekyō Sharingan and the higher-level Eternal Mangekyō would have to be upgraded through scrolls dropped by Instance Dungeons.

But that created a problem. There were very few Instance Dungeons that could drop Sharingan-related items, and items related to Kekkei Genkai were clearly high-grade items with extremely low random drop rates.

Therefore, only by fighting opponents stronger than himself could he increase their drop rates.

For that reason, suppressing his level was imperative.