Visit and Decision

Orochimaru's arrival greatly surprised Nara Shikaji and his wife, especially when they saw Kagetsu holding Orochimaru's hand.

"Orochimaru-sama was interested in my bug and wanted to take a look." Kagetsu succinctly stated the important part, his face full of innocence.

"You needn't worry about me. This was merely an accident. I'll leave after taking a look at the bug." Orochimaru nodded to Nara Shikaji and his wife, specifically emphasizing that this was only an accident. As for what a clever man like Nara Shikaji might think, Orochimaru had no interest in caring at the moment.

As Orochimaru and Kagetsu headed toward the backyard, Nara Shikaji and his wife, Nara Yuno, exchanged a glance. Both saw a trace of worry and helplessness in the other's eyes.

The Ino-Shika-Cho clans had remained quietly and steadily entrenched in Konoha for so long not merely because they were clever, but because they understood how to assess the situation—taking sides when necessary and compromising when necessary. They had always been the Hokage's advisers and trusted clans.

If possible, Nara Shikaji truly did not want his son getting too close to Orochimaru. The man was gradually stepping onto a dangerous, dark path and had grown too close to the Root Organization that called itself the Darkness of Konoha. He did not want his son exposed to such things yet.

"Your parents seem quite worried about you staying by my side," Orochimaru said softly as he walked beside Kagetsu.

"You may have seen wrong." Kagetsu shook his head.

"I did not see it with my eyes." Orochimaru showed no outward reaction to Kagetsu's denial and merely continued calmly, "I sensed their unease through their Chakra."

"Chakra?" Hearing Orochimaru's explanation, Kagetsu instinctively looked up.

To be fair, what made Orochimaru most unforgettable in his memories was his cockroach-like resilience and mastery of all kinds of Forbidden Techniques. Yet if one traced things back to their root, it was his understanding and utilization of Chakra.

Orochimaru was one of the very few whose attainments in Chakra techniques could approach the Six Paths.

"Chakra is the product of spiritual energy and physical energy from a living being mixed in equal measure. It is said that Chakra possesses the ability to connect with and peer into people's hearts, forming spiritual bridges through which memories and emotions can be shared. That claim is somewhat illusory.

"However, experienced people who are extremely sensitive to Chakra can 'smell' their owner's current emotional fluctuations from another person's Chakra," Orochimaru explained to Kagetsu.

"Of course, some elite shinobi can maintain their inner calm very well, or give you a false impression."

Kagetsu nodded. He felt that Orochimaru seemed somewhat fond of teaching others. Of course, the prerequisite was that the person being taught possessed talent and ability that Orochimaru valued.

For instance, Yakushi Kabuto, the man who had become Orochimaru's right-hand man in his memories, was one such person.

"Are you conducting research as well?"

After entering Kagetsu's workshop, Orochimaru swept his eyes over the room. He easily discerned the purpose of the instruments inside and roughly inferred the kind of experiment Kagetsu was conducting from the materials arranged around the room.

Without asking Kagetsu's permission, Orochimaru began flipping through Kagetsu's research notes on the table with interest. As he read, he occasionally cast a thoughtful look toward Kagetsu.

Kagetsu grew rather alarmed under Orochimaru's sidelong glances and could only excuse himself to bring out the bug he had been raising.

He really did carry it out in his arms!

The palm-sized green bug of the past had, after several months, grown as large as an adult's arm. Its entire body was soft and squishy, and even its formerly green skin had turned much fairer.

Name: Unknown Larva

Quality: Blue (You chose an evolutionary path for it. Once it is perfectly cultivated and advances to the next stage, it will form a cocoon and evolve+)

Traits: Entirely unremarkable. Its sole trait is its powerful vitality, extreme adaptability, and excellent potential for modification.

Skills: Squirming (Crawling), Eating, Silk Spitting, Multi-Size (Hidden)

Evaluation: How far it can grow depends on its cultivator's skill and feeding.

Conclusion: It is currently just a bug with a little combat ability, though not much.

After Kagetsu took the bug from his arms and placed it on the table, the pale green bug sensed that its owner had moved away. It lifted its head into the air, sniffed with its mouthparts, identified the direction, and squirmed across the table toward Kagetsu.

Yet in the next instant, the pale green bug that had happily been squirming toward its master was lifted into the air by a hand. Startled by the sudden attack, it panicked. Its skin abruptly changed from pale green to a far more mottled color, while black liquid began seeping from its body.

"Hmm?"

Feeling a burning pain transmitted through his skin, Orochimaru immediately used Chakra to isolate himself from contact with the bug's body.

Seeing that its counterattack had failed to make him release it, the pale green bug panicked and brought out its final measure. Its body suddenly swelled by a full size, curled itself into a ball, and finally forced Orochimaru's hand apart with its bulk and weight. It fell onto the table, rolled once, then quickly came to Kagetsu's side. Pressing itself against the table's edge with its head raised, it looked inexplicably dazed as it acted cute and complained to Kagetsu.

Kagetsu hurriedly took out a lump of black paste from nearby and placed it by the pale green bug's mouth, soothing the startled creature. Having the intelligence of a human infant, the pale green bug immediately forgot its earlier fright after finding security beside Kagetsu. It lowered its head, wriggled its mouthparts, and diligently swallowed the black paste bit by bit.

"This is?"

For the first time since entering, a strong expression of interest appeared on Orochimaru's face. His eyes glimmered faintly as he looked at the feeding pale green bug, then at Kagetsu, who was stroking its body to soothe it.

"Were those liquids just now poison you made for it?"

"Yes." Kagetsu nodded.

"And its body's sudden expansion? Is that one of its innate traits?" As he spoke, Orochimaru shook his head in puzzlement. "No, that method of expansion feels familiar."

"It is the Akimichi Clan's Multi-Size Technique." Seeing that Orochimaru had noticed something unusual, Kagetsu still honestly offered the answer.

"The Multi-Size Technique?" The interest in Orochimaru's eyes deepened. Kagetsu's answer immediately resolved his doubts.

Of course Orochimaru knew the Akimichi Clan's Multi-Size Technique. During the war, there had even been members of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans serving under him. From what he had sensed earlier, it shared many similarities with the Multi-Size Technique in his memories.

The only thing that surprised Orochimaru was that the Akimichi Clan's secret technique had appeared on a bug that seemed to possess no intelligence and only instinct!

The physiques of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans each differed. The Akimichi Clan, which represented the butterfly, possessed the trait of rapidly digesting large amounts of food, storing it in their bodies as fat, then releasing it when needed—or erupting it all at once.

The process closely resembled a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.

If others wished to learn the Akimichi Clan's Multi-Size Technique, then even if they possessed the cultivation method, they would be limited by their mastery of Yang Release and their physique.

Could it be that this bug's physique was sufficient to adapt to the transformations of the Multi-Size Technique?

Did it possess Yang Release?

For a moment, Orochimaru was tempted. Strictly speaking, the Senju Clan's famed Wood Release and physique could also be classified under Yang Release. Lifeforms with the Yang Release attribute possessed naturally powerful recovery abilities and could have more Chakra and endurance than ordinary shinobi.

Now that he had begun pursuing immortality, he naturally had ambitions for Yang Release.

Of course, Yang Release was merely a broad term. For Orochimaru, the Senju Clan was undoubtedly the most worthy subject for research and acquisition at present. Although the Akimichi Clan also possessed Yang Release, its effects and power were worlds apart from Wood Release. It simply was not worth wasting his time on.

Yet the insect before him and the research records at hand both stirred a certain curiosity in Orochimaru toward Kagetsu. Combined with that familiar quality he sensed in the boy, Orochimaru vaguely made a decision in his heart.

"Let's go. The next time we meet, I'll bring you a gift you need." Orochimaru did not press him further. After closing and putting away the records he had been reading, he took the initiative to bid farewell.

Kagetsu led him back to the front courtyard, then saw Orochimaru off from the Nara Clan residence together with his parents. Only after watching his figure disappear completely into the night did they return home.

Inside the house, after Nara Shikaji asked Kagetsu about the course of his meeting with Orochimaru, he did not ask anything further and simply told Kagetsu to get some proper rest.

He had merely wanted to determine Orochimaru's intentions. From Kagetsu's account, he could tell that Orochimaru bore no obvious ill will toward him. Realizing that, Nara Shikaji heaved a great sigh of relief.

Though he was reluctant for his son to grow too close to Orochimaru so soon and be influenced too deeply by him, Orochimaru was currently the strongest candidate to succeed as Fourth Hokage. In present-day Konoha, his reputation was exceptionally high. If he truly set his sights on his son, Shikaji had no particularly good way to deal with him alone.

At the Third Hokage's home.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was somewhat stunned to see Orochimaru visiting him late at night. During this period, he had already sensed his disciple's distance and coldness toward him. He had thought this near-cold-war state between master and disciple would continue for some time, yet Orochimaru had unexpectedly come to his door tonight.

Was it Jiraiya?

Hiruzen Sarutobi considered it, and it seemed the only person who could be credited was Jiraiya, who had just returned to the village. According to the Anbu's report, after Jiraiya returned, he had gathered with Tsunade and Orochimaru, and the three had met privately.

"You haven't taken the initiative to visit me in quite some time." Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at his favorite disciple and spoke unconsciously.

Orochimaru looked silently at the teacher before him, who was already showing signs of age. The marks of time had grown increasingly heavy upon him, gradually transforming the teacher Orochimaru had once known and admired into someone who disappointed him more and more.

What had driven him onto the path of pursuing immortality, aside from the death of his disciple Nawaki, the death of Tsunade's lover Dan, and witnessing countless lives treated as worthless in war, was also the change in Hiruzen Sarutobi—his teacher becoming ever more aged and unfamiliar. It was another weight that had crushed him.

He could not imagine whether, upon reaching the Third Hokage's age, he too would become just as muddleheaded and cowardly! A Hokage who had gradually begun to compromise at every turn was no longer worthy of his admiration.

He needed a new pursuit—something that interested him while also preventing him from ending up like his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, in the future.

But could he tell his teacher these things?

Impossible.

His teacher's thinking had already grown old and decrepit. Even if he were willing to communicate, the two would only quarrel over their differing ideals, further fracturing their relationship.

Thinking of this, Orochimaru immediately withdrew that fleeting impulse in his heart.

"I came to tell you that I want to become a team leader," Orochimaru said.

"A team leader?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's right hand, holding his pipe, suddenly froze in midair. His somewhat clouded eyes turned toward Orochimaru standing before him with delight.

"What made you change your mind so suddenly?"

It was not as if Hiruzen Sarutobi had never intended for Orochimaru and Tsunade to become team leaders before, but neither of them had any interest in raising children.

At least Jiraiya had Namikaze Minato to show for it. As for Orochimaru and Tsunade...

Tsunade's despondency stemmed from the successive blows of losing her younger brother and her lover. Orochimaru, meanwhile, had said that after failing to protect Nawaki and allowing him to die, he no longer had the motivation to become a team leader again.

"I merely found a very interesting child." Orochimaru licked his lips. Recalling that familiar quality in Kagetsu, one that was exceedingly similar to himself in certain ways, he spoke softly.

"Who is this lucky child?" Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled. In his heart, Orochimaru was the disciple who had truly inherited everything from him—talented and intelligent, with uniquely gifted insight and learning ability when it came to ninjutsu.

Compared to Jiraiya, who tirelessly pursued a vague prophecy, and the despondent Tsunade, Orochimaru undoubtedly carried a great portion of his expectations.

"A child from the Nara Clan." Orochimaru paused before giving Nara Kagetsu's name.

"Shikaji's child?" Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately recalled Kagetsu's information, as well as the performance he had witnessed from him on the day of the assessment.

If anyone else had wanted to become Nara Kagetsu's team leader and form a true master-disciple bond with him like Namikaze Minato and Jiraiya, he would certainly have hesitated. But since the candidate was Orochimaru, those concerns could be overlooked.

"He truly is a child with great talent, just like you. So long as you can earn Shikaji's approval, I agree." Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. "Do you have any other candidates?"

"Mitarashi Anko. Add her as well." Orochimaru included a child from a family that had once served under him.